to prescribe or not to...

[kolvar]

The Situation: an elf was involved in freeing a convicted criminal from the gallows 200 years ago. He was, in absence, sentenced to death.
The city this happened in, is a human city.
Now, 200 years, 5.7 human generations later, he will come back to the city.

Can such a crime prescribe? How do you handle such a thing?

 

[blackshirt5]

I'd say yes, it can.

Of course, in my world, it just got very rough to be an elf. So maybe that's just me.

 

[jmucchiello]

The Situation: an elf was involved in freeing a convicted criminal from the gallows 200 years ago. He was, in absence, sentenced to death.
The city this happened in, is a human city.
Now, 200 years, 5.7 human generations later, he will come back to the city.

Can such a crime prescribe? How do you handle such a thing?

Depends on whether there is a statue of limitations. In English common law all but the most foul crimes have a limitation on conviction. The old story about fleeing the kingdom for a year and a day seems to apply here. I'd be surprised if any constables even knew there was an arrest warrent out for any elf with his name.

Of course, if he has enemies who know of the event, they might find a particularly lawful constable to inform of this transgression but without direct interference by someone aware of the crime, I'd find it odd if he were arrested. Besides whoever he freed from the gallows is also probably dead by now.

What was the original crime that caused the elf to free the guy about to be hung? This would determine whether people held a grudge or not.

 

[apsuman]

Re: Re: to prescribe or not to...

Depends on whether there is a statue of limitations. In English common law all but the most foul crimes have a limitation on conviction.

We Americans still have this Statue of Limitations. but, the statue does not cover capital crimes. And, once convicted, I beleive that there is no Statue on the imposition of the sentence.

I say the sentence is still valid.


g!

 

[OaxacanWarrior]

I would say that unless the elf has some kind of enmity with an entire family in the city or if someone else was around back then that he'd be fine going back to the city. There's not much possibility that someone would know who he was or even what he did. I would have no idea if some murderer from 200 years ago showed up in town. The only way someone would remember were if he were particularly notorious in the area, but then he could probably just use a different name while there.

 

[MarauderX]

I suppose it really depends on the game world. I would say that no one would remember the elf that well to recognize him, and probably the escape is just a tale of old by now, told by your grandfather who wants to scare you to sleep.

Other elves and long living species may well remember or have heard of the events through bard song or other means and choose to turn in the elf to the authorities. Again, there are a lot of 'ifs' here, mostly because I don't know your campaign setting. In a big lawful city with a elven population of 5% or more I would say they turn him in if they recognize/see/catch him. In a small town with no elves, the populace might not remember but would just be distrustful of elves in general after the crimes.

 

[Carnifex]

I doubt anyone would remember the elf or the crime 200 years ago, unless it was something incredibly devious, romantic or vile that passed into urban myth. Even then they're hardly likely to recognise the elf when he strolls back into town.

 

[Ranger REG]

LEGAL SPELLCHECK...

statue of limitation = statute of limitations

 

[Agback]

G'day

Just a note: as their name implies, statutes of limitations are statute law, not common law. Ancient Rome had a statute of limitations, and most of the Civil Law countries have had them since the revival or introduction of Civil Law. But England had no time limit on actions during the Mediaeval period when Common Law was prevalent, and did not acquire statutes of limitations until the Parliament made them in the 16th Century (for actions to recover landed property) and 17th Century (for personal actions).

A pseudo-mediaeval fantasy jurisdiction might or might not have a statute of limitations, and it might or might not apply after a sentence had been imposed. But if you consider the reasoning behind statutes of limitations, it seems more likely that any such statute would prevent an appeal at such a late date rather than preventing the execution of sentence.

Regards,


Agback

EDITED: to make the numbers agree in the first sentence.

 

[Tonguez]

I think in a world where long lived races are common there would not be any limitation placed upon the execution of a sentence - simply to account for the fact that an Elf can dissapear for the lifetime of the accuser and thus attempt to escape punishment.

The difficulty of course lies in trying to prove that the elf is the guilty party and as stated even remembering that a sentence was once passed.

This might actually mean that Criminals in such a world should in fact be branded rather than just imprisoned prior to execution - perhaps the ear is cut or a mark placed upon their forehead so that they can be identified later if required

The options then are

1. The Senetence stands
2. The Sentence stands but is only enforcable by the original Judge (so if the Judge is dead the Sentence fails)
3. The Sentence lapses a period of time