The Courts
The second building in the Fortress of Justice compound is a building called the Courts. This is where justice is dealt from the benches of some of the most powerful individuals in the city, the judges. Yet long has Freeport’s judicial system been suspect, for what justice can be had in a town run by criminals? Over the life of the city, for every honest judge dedicated to the rule of law, there have been many on the take, selling their judgments to the lawyers who bid highest.
Architecture
This massive building is constructed of imported stone. Like the palace nearby, it has a peaked roof supporting a row of copper lightning rods. The face of the structure has a row of tall, narrow stained-glass windows that capture the likenesses of past Sea Lords and important events. A pair of towering bronze double doors at the top of a short flight of steps leads to the cavernous halls inside.
Just beyond the doors is the main entrance, where a small staff of clerks and guards sign in each visitor and inspect them for hidden weapons. On the other side of the main entrance is a large hall with equally large doors set on either side. The floor here is polished mahogany, and in the center is a large statue of a man on a horse, lit from above by the round skylight set in the roof. While the courts are open (five days a week for only five hours each day), people pack the halls. Lawyers meet with clients, while cuffed and chained criminals stand glumly, awaiting sentences. Bureaucrats and servants scurry from cluster to cluster, taking notes, delivering messages, and filling the air with the din of their chatter.
Through the doors to either side of the great hall are two more hallways containing four more doors. The smaller halls lead to courtrooms. The courtrooms to the south are used for criminal cases, while the ones to the north are for civil cases. Each courtroom is more or less identical. About a dozen benches form an aisle leading to a pair of tables, each with three or four chairs. At the far end of the courtroom is a high podium that towers over the room. The judge reaches a leather chair by climbing a steep set of steps; some of the courtrooms have fantastic contraptions that involve a jumble of pulleys, ropes, and harnesses for hefting an elderly or an overly plump justice up to his seat.
Behind the courtrooms are more halls, stairs, offices, and private rooms where a judge can hold private conferences with attorneys and their clients. It’s easy to get lost in these labyrinthine passages, and it is rumored that a doddering judge once vanished therein, only to be found months later, dead and partly devoured by rats.
History
About the same time as the Captains' Council formed, work began on the Courts. Since no one wanted to fund the construction, the Courts were built from materials salvaged from old ruins, timber cut from the island’s forests, and boards harvested from ruined ships that washed up on the islands of the Serpent’s Teeth. Legends abound from those early days regarding collapsing floors, sagging ceilings, and crooked walls. The shoddy craftsmanship proved to be the structure’s undoing just ten years later when the entire building collapsed after a slight tremor, killing all the judges and a dozen lawyers.
The second attempt at erecting the Courts saw vastly more funding pour in from undisclosed sources to ensure proper construction. Of course half of those funds vanished into the pockets of the politicians, but enough remained to erect a grand stone building. It would take another ten years for it to be completed, but when it was done, it rivaled the palace itself in terms of expense and grandeur.
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