It also gently brushed across the banks of the Yellow River with a little chilly spring breeze, which made the willow branches of the century-old giant willow on the river bank look green, making the river bank full of spring. Although there are still a few pieces of floating ice on the Yellow River occasionally bring some danger to shipping, the boatmen who have been silent for a whole winter hurriedly dragged the boat into the water, which only made the Yellow River busy again.

The recovery of shipping also made Qinghe, which had been silent for a winter, show its prosperity again, especially in Xinshi City, which is even more lively. On the bustling main street of Xinshi City, there is a place that always attracts some people to gather here almost every day, and this is the Qinghe Judgment Hall.

The Judgment Department is a unique official department in Jiangbei. According to the rules set by the Jianghuai General Administration, such as the prefect, the magistrate and other officials no longer tried various cases. The case was the criminal room of the Gongshu Office. The criminal room was under the criminal department of the Criminal Office and the Judgment Department. The Higher Judgment Department, local judges, and junior judges are located in various places in Jiangbei. The Higher Judgment Department is a provincial-level judicial organ, with department chiefs, judges, dictators, chief clerks, and recorders. The Local Judgment Department is located in larger cities, with chairmen, judges, dictators, chief clerks, and recorders. The Junior Judgment Department is located in various counties, setting up judges and recorders. This changed the situation of the magistrates in the old times, which not only limited the power of the magistrates, but also allowed them to supervise each other, and avoided the power of the magistrates in one county and covered the sky with one hand.

Of course, the real benefit of ordinary people is the ordinary people. This judicial independence fully protects the interests of the people, and even those people do not realize the benefits for them. However, for the people, watching the fun in the judge hall is a good way for them to spend their spare time. After all, in this judge hall, it is almost a new thing every day.

Just like now, in the Qinghe Local Judgment Hall, the person being tried was a high-ranking official - the former Yangzhou Salt Transportation Envoy, which is known to everyone. Such an outstanding official has a high-ranking trial in the Judgment Hall. Not to mention that ordinary people have never heard of it, even Chen Yonghua has never seen it. It is precisely because of this that he squeezed into the Judgment Hall like others. Because the seats in the hall were limited, he had to stand in the corridor on the second floor to listen to the upcoming trial. The reason why he came here was not only curious about the trial, but also curious about Jiangbei.

"It has been three days of trial, and I guess I should be sentenced today..."

Could it be that the last three days have been tried publicly? What is the difference between this and humiliating people?

When Chen Yonghua was thinking secretly, this was his first time to come to the judge hall. This judge hall was completely different from an ordinary yamen. There was a table in the center with a gavel on the stage. Obviously, it should be the position of the judge. There was a row of seats about a distance in front of the judge. There were rows of seats separated by railings, and the people sitting there were people listening. There were long tables on the left and long tables on the right, opposite to the judge.

"Hey, what are those twelve chairs for?"

Listening to the confusion sound of Minnan accent in his ears, Wang Zhili, who was quite friendly, closed the notepad in his hand and said softly.

"This brother should be the first time he has come to Jiangbei!"

Looking at the young man beside him, Wang Zhili introduced.

“Those twelve chairs are the jury’s position.”

"jury?"

Chen Yonghua asked in confusion.

"This jury was a jury when the prefectures and counties in Jiangbei were mostly fake officials of Qing dynasties because they didn't know their talents. In fact, I think my brother also knew that it was not that they didn't know their talents, but they didn't trust them. After all, those fake officials of Qing dynasties were used to exploiting the people in order to please the Qing dynasties. They had long been used to exploiting the people. Naturally, the jury would not tolerate them doing this, so they took their judicial power and could no longer exploit the people with punishment. However, without the magistrate, how should they deal with the punishment? Therefore, at that time, the counties should select 12 insiders as jury when hearing the case. They provided proof after taking the oath to the magistrate as the basis for the judgment..."

Wang Zhili's answer made Chen Yonghua stunned. At that time, Prince Yu stayed in Xiamen with him, so he naturally didn't know about the "jury".

"How can people participate in the trial of cases from ancient times to the present? How can people distinguish right from wrong?"

"How can the people not distinguish right from wrong?"

Wang Zhili retorted.

"The jury system used by the strategy is actually the "method of umbrella sting" to revive the Zhou system. "Three stabs are used to cut off the civil servants' prisons, one is to inform the ministers, two is to inform the officials, and three is to inform the people." Zheng Xuan's note: "Assassination, killing, and three is to kill them if the crime is convicted. The news is to speak." Only in this way can officials avoid covering the sky with only one hand!"

First, he emphasized that the "jury system" was the Zhou system, and then Wang Zhili said softly.

"Besides, have you never heard a saying, "Right and injustice are in the hearts of people"!"

Right and injustice are in the hearts of the people!

A simple sentence made Chen Yonghua's heart tremble.

"And you see these twelve people, how could they choose twelve people at will? The selection of 12 local people as jurors requires the selection of both the prosecution and the defense. Not to mention other cases, just Zheng Xiaru's case. When selecting jurors, the criminal officer and Zheng Xiaru's lawyer took two full days to select these twelve jurors."

"The Execution Officer?"

Chen Yonghua asked in confusion.

"Who is this prosecutor?"

"The criminal procurator, well, is a full-time official of the Criminal Procuratorate. It is an official of the Criminal Procuratorate and Constitutional Department under the Criminal Office. In various parts of Jiangbei, criminal cases must be filed for lawsuits. The reason why Jiangbei's judicial system is meticulous is that the local clerical history is responsible for arresting, collecting evidence, and then handing over to the Criminal Procuratorate, who considers the evidence. If the evidence is insufficient, the punishment will naturally not be issued. After the criminal procuratorate is filed, the trial office will be responsible for the trial. In this way, each performs his duties, so that the magistrate can cover the sky with his hands. In the words, black can be turned into white, and white will be turned into black! Prevent the plaintiff from being labeled as a defendant and the defendant will be labeled as a plaintiff!"

Although he did not know much about the judicial system that restricted Jiangbei, Chen Yonghua still realized from Wang Zhili's words that this meticulous structure could indeed protect the people to the greatest extent.

"So since there are these 12 juries who decide whether the defendant is guilty, what's the use of having the presiding judge?"

When asked back, Chen Yonghua looked at the empty seat.

"It's not the judge, it's the judge."

Wang Zhili pointed to the head and said.

"The magistrate was sitting there. His duty was to maintain order in the trial hall, so that the prosecution and defense would not quarrel, and to prevent them from distorting the facts. Of course, the final sentencing still depends on the magistrate sentencing."

Just then, the shout of a soldier sounded from the judgement hall below the audience.

"Silent! The reasoning comes, everyone stands up!"

Those who were originally sitting stood up one after another. Of course, including the prosecution and defense who had just arrived in the hall, naturally there was Zheng Xiaru wearing a blue shirt.

"The Strategy once said that in the Judgment Hall, the judges represent the Daming Law, and since they are the Supreme Emperor, they also need to stand up to welcome them. After all, what he represents is the majesty of the Daming Law."

When the magistrate entered the judge's hall, Chen Yonghua saw that the magistrate's official robe was not very good, but was just a black public uniform without supplementary words.

"So, like the prosecutor, there is no rank, and there is no need to refer to anyone as a "lower official". In this way, it will naturally avoid other people from using power to control them and making them abuse their power."

I hope so!

Perhaps no loophole was found, but Chen Yonghua, who knew that there must be loopholes in it, did not speak, but just looked at the judge hall. He noticed that after the magistrate entered the judge hall, the atmosphere in the entire hall suddenly changed. Almost at the moment the magistrate appeared, the hall suddenly became quiet. Although there were many people, no one of the listeners dared to make noise loudly, but were just whispering behind them.

In this way, the majesty of this scepter can also be seen.

"See, no one dares to speak loudly. If you make a loud noise and get punished by a magistrate, at the least you will disturb the hall. If you are detained for ten days, you will also be fined 2000 yuan. At the worst, you may be regarded as "disdaining the national laws and disrupting the hall" and traveling for three thousand miles!"

One sentence flowed for three thousand miles, Chen Yonghua couldn't believe his ears.

"Rive three thousand miles?"

"Yes, that's right, it's just exiled to Taiwan. Let me tell you that someone is really wandering for three thousand miles because of "symphasia and disrupting the hall". And he is not allowed to appeal and there is no need to judge. In this hall, the magistrate is a role that is the only one."

"Then what he said is just a golden word!"

With a faint voice in disbelief, Chen Yonghua didn't even notice it. His voice lowered a lot, and he could only hear it between the two of them.

"It's just a golden word!"

Wang Zhili's words were a little dissatisfied.

"In this hall, his words are just golden words. Although he cannot die, he can make others die in life and death, but he can destroy the people's homes!"

From the tone of the person beside him, Chen Yonghua could hear that he seemed to be a little dissatisfied with Jiang Bei or the "magistrate", but from his words, he still felt the authority of the meritorious person. At least his authority was unquestionable in this judgement hall.

Whether they were happy or not, the authority of the magistrate in the judgement hall had long been established. When the case began to be heard, Chen Yonghua immediately saw the debate between the two sides of the defense. What surprised them was that the magistrate, who should have been very authoritative, was just listening to their debates, and occasionally making statements to prevent one party from being too radical. The magistrate became the home court for the magistrate and the lawyer. As for the magistrate and the juror, they just listened.

When he was leaving the court to rest, he frowned. He seemed to be thinking about the scenes he saw in the hall before, listening to the argument between the prosecution and the defense, Chen Yonghua suddenly asked Wang Zhili.
Chapter completed!