"I have conclusive evidence, please summon Calis for interrogation, and I will confront him in court."

Although Davis was in rags, his tone was neither humble nor arrogant, and his speech and demeanor were not inappropriate, which made everyone present look up to him.

"Yes, go and bring Calis, because it involves the chief deacon of the Empire, and invite the Ecumenical Patriarch to come and interrogate Calis with me,"

Constantine said to the general on the side, and then looked at Davis,

"But, Davis, if what you say is inaccurate, or concealed, or exaggerated, you will be tried extremely severely, and as a First Citizen, I cannot allow the reputation of other citizens to be unjustifiably damaged, are you sure you will still confront Calis in court?"

"Of course, Your Majesty, I will not regret what I have done today, because justice cannot be killed!"

Davis was still wearing the robes of the judge's assistants, which were originally pure white and were now covered with stains, which the opposition had smeared, if not by his own hands.

"He'd be a good justice, like Gaius, Berbignian and the like, if what he's saying today is indeed true."

The Prince of Asturias of the Kingdom of Castile shrugged his shoulders and spoke to the Duke of Armagnac of France next to him.

Not long after, Sultan Ellis, the Patriarch of Constantinople, arrived at the scene with a scepter to attend such a major ceremony, and the Patriarch did not dare to be careless, and soon after the Patriarch arrived, Calis also staggered over,

Seeing that both sides of the interrogation were present, Constantine nodded slightly and motioned for Davis to speak,

"Honorable First Citizen, His Majesty Augustus, His Excellency the Ecumenical Patriarch, Dukes, Counts, and citizens of the Roman Empire, Calis' actions have seriously shaken the foundations of the Roman Empire and jeopardized the legitimate rights of the Roman citizens.

Davis and Calis stood facing each other, but as if he couldn't see Calis's threatening eyes, he said to himself,

"First, that Calis's actions violated the right of citizens to liberty, and that Calis, by virtue of his noble status, had cruelly deprived another citizen of his life without any form of influence on him, and had imposed the death penalty without the permission of God and the Emperor, thus posing a grave threat to the sanctity and justice of the law,

Second, Calis was a high-flying, selfish man, robbed other people's property many times, accepted bribes many times, and posed an extremely serious threat to the private property of citizens, and his behavior was worse than Catiline, and the sage Cicero once said that the brave man should punish the citizens who betray the motherland more severely than the enemy who does not share the heavens, so it seems that the betrayer is more terrible than the enemy, and is not Calis's behavior now a betrayal of the empire? ”

"The most important things for a free man are three: a free mind, the right to live, and private property, but now, Calis is depriving other citizens of their sacred rights without anyone's permission, not only offending the law, but also offending the citizens, and the rights of citizens should be guaranteed, and this is what the law should do, and if the law cannot do it, we should change the law, because the law is the weapon with which citizens protect themselves, and if citizens cannot protect themselves through the law, they will resort to force，

Here, I implore all of you who are witnesses of the judgment to look more closely at the citizens of the Empire. On behalf of the 153 citizens who were killed and one survivor, I demand that Calis be sentenced to the same treatment as the victims, and that the relevant imperial laws be established to preserve the basic rights of the citizens of the Roman Empire, which is what all citizens demand and expect! ”

In this era when the material base is very underdeveloped, Davis's words sound absurd, but the rarer things are, the more people often value them, and when they can't eat enough, they talk about fairness and justice not because they are full, but because he really regards this as an ideal, and in today's speech alone, Davis is enough to be called a humanist scholar, and the right thing cannot be fought for because not many people value it, because this is what should have been obtained.

"The whistleblower has made his claim, then, Calis, how are you going to defend yourself?"

Constantine looked at Calis, and had to say that Davis's speech was very wonderful, and his views, opinions, and arguments seemed refreshing at the time, and for the people, after being suppressed for so long, there are people who are willing to speak for them, isn't it an exciting thing?

As for why we pay so much attention to the law, here we have to talk about some differences between the East and the West, that is, Europe has not formed a complete political system, since the first emperor in the East, the process of centralization lasted for more than 500 years before it was briefly interrupted because of the chaos of China, and there were several dynasties in the middle, in the opinion of the people at the time, even if the dynasty was changed, the political system would not change, but the West was different, since 395 AD, the Roman Empire only ruled the land of Europe for a short time, The formed political system is also limited to the Near East and the Balkan Peninsula, Sicily and other places, and then gradually declined, more than a thousand years ago, the whole of Europe shared a political system when I am afraid only in the Roman Empire and the Republic period, that is to say, the West does not have a unified political system standards, there is no power that has always been a power, there is no object that everyone imitates together, which leads to not only in terms of titles, including official titles, currency, land division and other aspects of each country is completely different, Everyone is on their own, and this can easily lead to division.

"He has no evidence, Your Majesty, even if Socrates and Plato are resurrected, how can one citizen initiate a lawsuit against another citizen without evidence?"

Before coming, Romanus had already breathed Calis, as long as there was no evidence to bite the other party, and in the absence of evidence, Constantine would not be able to do anything to them.

"Your presentation was wonderful, Dai... Davis, but you can't tarnish my reputation for no reason, for a great nobleman who pays attention to inheritance, the reputation of the family cannot be desecrated, and if you can't produce evidence, you will be punished. ”

Calis said confidently that he has this confidence, even if the other party comes up with some evidence, he can quibble, in this era without surveillance, it is relatively simple to get away with the crime, especially when Calis is still rich and powerful.

"You want proof, don't you? Then I'll give you proof. ”

Before Davis could speak, the woman on the side opened his mouth hoarsely, Davis sighed and closed his eyes, only to see the woman open the cloth bag next to him and take out a... Head!!!

"Do you know who this is? This is my son, he is not yet six years old, what is his sin? Tell me!! What is his sin? ”

The mother complained hoarsely, holding the body of her child tightly in her arms, the small head with its eyes closed, wrapped in a layer of quicklime embalming, looking very pale,

"He's just a kid, he's not even six years old! What did he do? So much so that it was treated like this? ”

"Pak~"

"Humph!"

Constantine slapped the frame, stood up suddenly, and pointed at Calis,

"Calis, what else do you have to say?"

Calis's legs went limp, and he fell to his knees with a pop, his head on the ground, and his whole body trembled like chaff.

"I didn't expect that in my country, such a bad thing would happen, even if it was a big army, we would not attack a child under the age of six, Calis, you are simply a jackal, what face do you have to say that you are a member of the Laskalis family? Are you worthy of your title as Grand Duke? Isn't the empire's annual tax revenue enough for you to do mischief? How dare you do such a thing, Calis, you are the first sinner of the Roman Empire!! ”

"A child, who did not die of disease, but at the hands of a heavily armed citizen, a mother, do you think it is necessary for her to slander you with her child's life? My God! This is the worst and most serious case I have ever seen, but no one with a modicum of conscience would do anything to a child. ”

Not only Constantine was indignant, but tens of thousands of people throughout the square were indignant and incredulous at what Calis had done.

"Kill Calis! Kill Calis! Kill Calis! ”

Calls for the execution of Calis were growing louder, the crowd in the square chanted slogans in unison, and the atmosphere was on the verge of spiraling out of control.

"Quiet! Be quiet! ”

Seeing that the situation was unfavorable, Romanus was annoyed in his heart, but now he could only stabilize the situation at the scene first, and after a while, the scene was quiet again.

"Patriarch Ellis, what do you think should be done on this matter?"

Constantine turned to the ecumenical patriarch beside him.

"Your Majesty, the severity of this matter is unheard of, Calis should be possessed by Satan to disturb the order of the world, we should send the demon back to hell and let him be judged!"

Patriarch Ellis's words can be said to have played a very big role in Constantine, as long as Ellis said such a sentence, then Constantine can justifiably aim the nobles' fire direction at the church, as long as the nobles don't want to rebel, whether they want to or not, they can only export to the church, this is the step that Constantine gave them.

Constantine nodded in satisfaction, then looked at Calis, and then looked around the people,

"As an emperor, Calis, as the duke of the empire, contributed a lot to the empire, but as the first citizen of the Roman Empire, Calis and Davis are equal in my opinion, they only have the difference in the social division of labor, and there is no high or low in the heart, I regret what Calis has done, from today's events, we can also know that the law is endless, and the emperor should listen to the opinions of the society widely to amend the law, when the law is not suitable for the current society, The emperor should revise it at the right time, and the citizens should have the courage to stand up and tell the emperor where there is any inconvenience, whatever is beneficial to the country and the people, the emperor should actively promote, and whatever is harmful to the country and the people, the emperor should also delete it after careful consideration, I am very happy that today Davis can stand up and tell us what are still shortcomings, this is not only for me, but also for the empire is also a big progress,

Here, I would also like to reiterate that all people should be under the control of the law, whether you are a nobleman or not, it is your duty as a citizen, and it is my regret that here, I sentence Calis to death, the title of Duke of Sophia to be inherited by his eldest son, the fief to be divided equally among the heirs, his vassals to be converted into vassals of the royal family, a fine of 30,000 ducats, to be kept by the church, Calis, do you have anything else to say? ”

Everyone is under the control of the law, so if there is no relevant law, then there is no need to control it, anyway, it is impossible for Constantine to introduce laws to restrict the imperial power, not to mention that in the "Code of Justinian", it is directly and clearly said that the imperial power is supreme, which is the legal basis for Constantine's rule.

"I... I request... With the aristocracy... way to die. ”

Calis shuddered and said this, almost crying.

"Alas, of course, I grant you this wish, come on, take him down! The execution is scheduled for... Three days later! ”

Constantine seemed to be tired, and with a wave of his hand, someone took Calis, who was almost incapacitated, down.

And Constantine's verdict was a very unusual thing for the people, because they had never seen a nobleman, especially such a large nobleman sentenced to death because of the common people, which could be said to be an epoch-making event for the whole of Europe, and the impression of the Roman Empire focusing on law was destined to be remembered by the whole European world.

"Davis, the Empire recently has a project to compile and study the original manuscript of the Code of Justinian, and there is a lack of an assistant, I wonder if you are interested in joining it?"

After dealing with Calis, Constantine threw an olive branch to Davis again.

"I'm willing to serve you, Your Majesty, I've always been an assistant anyway."

Davis looked helpless, but the smile on the corner of his mouth betrayed everything.

"Haha, everyone is from apprentice to master, you will have a chance."

Constantine smiled, touched his beard, and was very satisfied with Davis.

Some people died, but not completely......