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Message: <blockquote data-quote="WayneLigon" data-source="post: 1429648" data-attributes="member: 3649">Divinations might ruin such a thing.. if there is a priest around of high enough level to cast one. And if he prepared one of those spells that day. If you're out and about among the peasentry, the chance of that is slim.  If you do actually have a legal system in place, one similar enough to ours that arguement and debate over points of law are taken into consideration (in other words, they follow the rule of law, rather than the rule of the local baron or duke or whatever) then divinations might not be allowed in several cases.  1. It's known that many spells can not work on a person. Unless the priest can provide proof that his spell works regardless then any knowledge gained from it might be suspect.  2. The subject might be exempt from such divination magics by reason of some special status. Nobles, for instance, might not be required to be subjected to Zone of Truth. Maybe a priest cannot cast a divination on someone not of his faith. Or might be prohibited from casting spells on those of his faith. 3. As a follow up to (2), some sections of the populace might have their own court system. Guilds, for example. Certain religions might not recognize judgement passed on their members by anyone not of their faith. 4. Divination might not be seen as 'reliable enough' to convict someone of certain classes of crimes. It might be well and good to use to find out if Farmer Brown did indeed sow an acre of Farmer Greens fields with his own crops, but not in a murder investigation; there are so many things that could foil a divination that it might not be seen as accurate enough.  5. People may have rights! Once the populace moves away from the idea of 'rule by man', then more and more they have the concept of rights, especially inalienable ones. One of the first ones will probably be 'Right to be free of Hostile Sorceries' meaning no Charm, Suggestion, Detect Thoughts, etc.  Even if not, there are still some inherant rights under a feudal system; usually the subject swears to uphold the lord, and the lord swears to protect the subject. If Lord Arnold has a beef with the local Church of Thereman, then he might well see use of divinations by the Theremanites as something he needs to protect the populace from. He might issue a proclamation that the Servants of Thereman shall not practice their arts within a hundred feet of the Courthouse.  6. Rights and Privledges. In a medieval society, the concept of privledge is very powerful. The local duke may well have the traditional right to judge those accussed and he'll be the one to do it, not some local priest trying to horn in on the process.</blockquote>

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