The hearing court is much smaller than the trial court, with few auditorium seats and no jury seats. The prosecution and defense stand on the left and right of the parties respectively.

Judge Feng Xuefan was well-dressed, probably under fifty years old, with shiny black hair, and very elegant.

When he entered the court through the inner door, the clerk shouted "stand up" crisply, and everyone stood up, including a few people in the gallery.

Cheng Ye and Liu Hanliang both had smiles on their faces, and even Feng Xuefan glanced at them and nodded slightly.

Imperial judges have a lifelong tenure. Unless the relevant judges are impeached by the local (federal) parliament or resign themselves to retire, no one can touch them even if they die of illness in office.

In Donghai, the power to impeach judges at all levels belongs to the Donghai City Council.

Therefore, judges are usually very individual and fearless. For example, Feng Xuefan knows Cheng Ye and does not shy away from suspicion.

Feng Xuefan walked onto the judge's bench. As soon as he took his seat, Lu Ming raised his hand.

"Your Honor, I request that you be replaced!"

The court immediately fell silent, and the clerk who was about to read out the summary of the case was also stunned. She was a pretty little girl, wearing a black professional skirt, with a slim appearance.

Liu Hanliang and Cheng also looked at each other with gloating smiles on their faces.

In fact, Judge Feng Xuefan is not their strong backing. This guy is just trying to gain fame and has the ambition to enter the Donghai High Court. In court, he is fair most of the time.

But if anyone offends him, it will be a matter of money and money. He is petty and very vindictive. This rookie lawyer will not be able to survive in Beiguan in the future.

"Hmm..." Feng Xuefan stared at Lu Ming, and the pretty female clerk below said hurriedly: "The defendant's attorney, junior defender Lu Qianxing."

"Lu Qianxing, do you think I am not impartial enough? Do you think I have interests in dealing with the plaintiff?" Feng Xuefan looked calm.

"No, your honor, although I have only been in Beiguan for a few days, I have heard of your reputation for fairness."

Feng Xuefan frowned, "Then tell me the reason why you want to change the judge."

Lu Ming nodded, "Because it is unconstitutional for you to hear this case. The defendant is an Irefenni girl. According to Appendix 5 of the Old Testament of the Imperial Code, all criminal, civil and civil proceedings of the Irefenni people

All disputes should be heard by Arefenni judges, and this appendix has never been explicitly abrogated by the Imperial Supreme Court or the Federal Parliament! Therefore, the Old Testament has always been part of the constitution!"

Feng Xuefan was stunned for a moment. It seemed to him that in the early days of the founding of the empire, there was an Old Testament that gave Westerners great privileges.

It is normal that this ancient law has not been abolished, because gradually it is no longer used.

Within the empire, including the nearly independent federation of the four northern provinces, the chief judges of courts at all levels are Westerners.

Although in areas where Central Asians gather, there are cases where Westerners’ cases are heard by Central Asian judges, but who can still wrongfully accuse Westerners?

This ancient clause was gradually forgotten.

But he really didn't know whether there were clear terms and whether they had been repealed.

After pondering for a moment, Feng Xuefan nodded, "Adjourn the court for twenty minutes." He wanted to consult the chief judge for his opinion.

Liu Hanliang and Cheng were also stunned.

Wang Da'an, who was sitting in the gallery, clenched his fists and secretly shouted "Hello".

…

In the corridor leading to the lounge, both parties walked on one side.

Cheng Ye looked at Wang Daan and smiled: "Lawyer Wang, is your firm going to compete with us?"

Wang Da'an was stunned, muttering, not knowing what he was talking about, and flew away early with excitement.

My own small temple, what do you mean by "fighting against the enemy"? When someone coughed, it was blown away.

Lu Ming smiled: "I'm just confronting you today. You can't represent the collective of twelve lawyers in your law firm, right?"

Cheng Ye looked at him and smiled contemptuously, "Lawyer Lu, you successfully angered me! Originally, I wanted to save some face for you." He took out a piece of paper from the folder and turned to Pan Mi.

La said: "Mrs. Pan Mila, this is the apology letter signed by Jin Taohua and your daughter. You may not know what it means, and the rookie lawyer you hired may not be able to explain it to you. So, in a moment,

You can ask lawyer Wang Daan to give you a detailed explanation!"

After saying that, he smiled at Lu Ming, turned around, pushed the door open with Liu Hanliang, and entered the plaintiff's lounge.

…

The defendant's lounge is opposite the plaintiff's lounge. As soon as he entered the room, Wang Daan became anxious and shouted to Jin Taohua: "What did you do? How could you write this?! If you don't understand, just ask someone who understands?"

!Do you know? This will not only harm you, but also Bisi!"

Pan Mila bit her red lips and said to Lu Ming: "Go and talk to them now, reconcile, and see how much compensation we need."

She knew something about law, and knew that having such an apology letter would mean losing more than half of the lawsuit.

Jin Taohua's face was already full of tears, "I, I don't know. At that time, they said that as long as they wrote a letter of apology, they would forgive us. I, Bi Si and I wrote it. Who knows, they will still sue us..."

Lu Ming nodded, "That is to say, your letter of apology has not been understood by the other party. This is also a reconciliation agreement that has not been reached."

"It doesn't matter what it is!" Wang Da'an looked at this fool, with a face full of hatred, and said loudly: "If you really want to help, go and apologize now and ask for reconciliation. Don't hurt Mrs. Pan Mila and Bisi.

Miss!"

Lu Ming waved his hand and looked at Bisi: "I want to help you fight. Don't be afraid. Even if we lose, the jury will at most award us compensation. If we get to that point, I will sell the car and compensate you, okay? Now?

Well, let’s continue fighting.”

"Then Liu Hanliang, it's too easy to fake injuries. Can you afford to pay? Who knows where you rented your car?! Is the money from the sale yours?! Don't you live across from me? A really rich person can

Where do you live?!" Wang Daan was so angry that he was almost furious.

Lu Ming looked at him and nodded in his heart. Originally, his impression of him was just okay. Now, it was a bit more positive. Although he was timid and cautious, he was a warm-hearted person.

Pan Mila also sighed softly at this time: "Lawyer Lu, thank you, but let's reconcile. If you don't want to apologize, I will..."

Bisi looked at Lu Ming with tears in her eyes and said, "Uncle, I am not wrong..." biting her lip to hold back from crying, "Uncle, I hope you can tell the judge and tell everyone that I am not wrong and I am not bad."

child……"

Everyone was stunned and silent for a moment, only Bisi's childish voice with a crying voice echoed.

"I'm not wrong, I'm not a bad boy..."

Inexplicably, it makes people's nose a little sore.

Wang Daan also sighed deeply.

Pan Mila's pretty face looked complicated, and she finally said: "Fight, fight. If you lose, appeal. If you lose in the end, I'll borrow money at worst."

"Thank you, mom..." Bi Si turned around and threw herself into Pan Mila's arms, sobbing softly.

Pamela lovingly stroked her doll-like smooth golden hair and kissed her face gently.

Wang Daan couldn't say what he wanted to say at this time. He sighed in his heart and could only take one step at a time.

…

The bailiff came to inform them that the court session would begin in ten minutes.

Everyone entered the court. When Liu Hanliang passed by Lu Ming, he snorted coldly, "From now on, if you want to reconcile, kneel down and kowtow to me!"

Lu Ming just pretended not to hear it. In the court, every word he said had its value. It would be a waste to use it on him.

Surprisingly, everyone stood up, and the person who walked up to the judge's bench from the inner door of the hearing court was a little old lady. Moreover, she was obviously from Central China, not a Western chief judge.

The little old lady looked to be in her seventies. She was shrunken and very thin. She was wrapped in a large black judge's robe, but she walked like a breeze and looked very energetic.

From the corner of his eye, Lu Ming saw the expressions on Liu Hanliang and Cheng Ye's faces as if they had eaten flies.

"Don't raise objections again. This is the second judge Li Wenhua and Li Guan. She can..."

Originally, Wang Daan, who was in the first row of the auditorium, leaned forward to remind Lu Ming, but when the little old lady looked over with a sharp look, he immediately shivered in fright and quickly retracted his body.

Li Guan sat down and cleared his throat: "Her Excellency Chief Judge Christine entrusted me to conduct the hearing of this case."

Looking at Lu Ming, "Lawyer Lu Qianxing, do you think it's okay?"

Lu Ming stood up, "I have no objection in court, because according to the third annotation of Appendix 5 of the Old Testament, when the judge hearing the case of the Irefenni is entrusted by Judge Grifenni, the hearing and trial of the case will

Have legal effect."

The little old lady's sharp eyes were a little surprised. She stared at Lu Ming and nodded slightly.

She originally thought that this rookie defender had just heard the legends in the Old Testament and was just trying his luck to talk nonsense, but she didn't expect that this little guy seemed to be very familiar with the details of the Old Testament.

Even she found it after looking through the information for a long time.

"Let's start!" She waved her hand.

"Your Honor, on behalf of the victim, Mr. Liu Hanliang..." Cheng Ye just stood up and had not finished speaking.

Lu Ming immediately interrupted, "Objection, the plaintiff's lawsuit has not been formally filed, so I object to the plaintiff's attorney calling the plaintiff "victim". In court, this is a legal term, and now, there is no victimization."

people!"

Including Wang Daan, everyone in the court was dumbfounded. Even though there were only a few people in the auditorium, some of them just liked to listen to the excitement, but as he had been ill for a long time, he also had some knowledge of the law.

For the first time, I met such a serious lawyer.

Anger appeared on Cheng Ye's face, "I object to the defendant's attorney interrupting my presentation of the case."

The little old lady blinked her eyes, considered for a while, then pointed at Lu Ming: "Your objection is valid." Looking at Cheng Ye, "Your objection is invalid."

Cheng also gritted his teeth and said, "Yes, your honor." After thinking for a while, he continued: "On behalf of Mr. Liu Hanliang, I am suing Ms. Bessie Stewart for failing to clean up the water in the restaurant in time, causing my client to accidentally fall and suffer huge losses.
To be continued...