"Would it also be acceptable to say that the accused may request a regular trial if they'd prefer not to undergo trial by ordeal, or would that be too disruptive to its traditional use?"

"I think that's acceptable."

In Menador, this statute shall additionally permit those who have been accused of crimes for which the ordinary sentence is afflictive or torturous to undergo trial by ordeal, in accordance with the Arodenite traditions of Menador. However, if the accused requests an ordinary trial instead of trial by ordeal, this request must be granted.

"Do you see any issues with this wording?"

"That looks good to me. I must vote as I believe Iomedae would order, but I thank you."

"If no one wishes to propose further changes, I call for a vote on this proposal."

"My mountain duchy and marches practice Menador's customs as well in this respect, and I do not know for sure but suspect the mountains of the Hellcoast as well."

"Thank you, Your Highness, I wasn't aware of that. Will this suffice?"

In those regions of Cheliax which practiced trial by ordeal before the Asmodean regime came to power, this statute shall additionally permit those who have been accused of crimes for which the ordinary sentence is afflictive or torturous to undergo trial by ordeal, in accordance with their Arodenite traditions. However, if the accused requests an ordinary trial instead of trial by ordeal, this request must be granted.

This gets a polite nod.

Trial by ordeal is properly the remit of the judiciary committee, and will seem out of place in a restriction on punishments, but this will perhaps increase the law's chance of passing. He stays silent.

Like anything else in this proposal isn't the remit of the judiciary committee.

"Very well. In that case, I call for a vote."

“In favor.”

“In favor.”

"Against."

"In favor."

"Against."

"Against."

"In favor."

"In favor."

"In favor."

Felip, normally eager to vote, is silent and sitting back. The count is now 6 to 3, passing either way. His vote feels like it does not matter, and yet to him that makes it matter all the more. 

When they drafted this law, he focused mostly on how it would permanently enshrine an end to overwrought torture. The current temporary bans seemed clearly inadequate, to the three problems of popularity, order, and goodness, and this was their best guess as to what would balance the three.

He has ordered men hung, before, and not in the fashion of Lastwall. He has attended the burning of cultists in Mendev, and felt the grim satisfaction that they would hurt no one else. He has seen bodies broken upon the wheel; thankfully he has not had any cause to do it yet. The turning to parts he has only read about, and it sounds extremely unpleasant. Fit for the worst crime, perhaps, but he has trouble holding on to certainty in this moment.

No government is staffed solely by paladins. Mendev's judicial system is independent from Galfrey's control, and he suspects he sees why, now. He knows less about Lastwall's, but the paladin assizes are warriors turned lawmen, not what you would expect if that country's magistrates were paladins. He does not know how it is done in Qadira, where Sarenrae's church is deeply entwined with the state.

(If he had to pick a new state religion for Cheliax, he would have picked Sarenrae; a redeemer for a fallen country, as their attempts to follow Iomedae would merely recreate the Godclaw. But that would be politically fraught in its own way, and the church of Sarenrae is already divided against itself. And the good gods are not jealous, the way Asmodeus was; a state church means something very different, here, and so better to have all the helping hands they can receive.)

The pause since the last vote has grown a little too long; he has to choose.

"I abstain."

Jilia raises one eyebrow and the edge of her lips a small amount, which probably only Chelish-born would be able to recognize as an acknowledgement that he's done something she approves of more than expected.

(She can't tell what, exactly, he's conflicted about. But his exchange with Cansellarion is enough to guess.)

"In favor. The vote passes."

He passes out another sheet of paper.

It being in the public interest that the people are reminded of the fruits of crime, and to ensure that criminals have not been unduly punished leading up to their execution, executions shall be done in public, except when safety or security concerns render this impossible.

"I had one more matter I wanted to attend to before we conclude this session. It seems to me that the use of private executions is worse both for public order and for our subjects' ability to trust that we are not re-enacting the horrors of the Thrunes. I propose that — regardless of which penalties this body enshrines — we return to the practice of conducting executions in public when possible."

This really seems like the sort of thing the Archduchess (and for that matter the Lord Marshal) should be in favor of, even considering how soft they are, but he's not really optimistic.

"How is the audience meant to ascertain if someone has been unduly punished leading up to their execution?"