Jus Antiquus

Jus Antiquus (English: Old Justice) also known as Altrecht (German) or Antiekreg (Afrikaans) was a justice system that was first established in Namibia by Namibian White Africans before the Century War. The practices prescribed by Jus Antiquus were used sporadically by various groups throughout the world, including the Revenant.

The system was characteristic in it's use of severe forms of corporeal punishment and, in particular, extremely torturous forms of public capital punishment based on medieval European execution techniques. Jus Antiquus was also known for the practice of performing floggings or executions publicly, and the local authority charging onlookers a viewing fee.

Jus Antiquus was shunned by the Republic of White Africa and opposed by the Averte Statum. Both powers made various attempts to prevent the use of this system in southern Africa, but Jus Antiquus was nonetheless used frequently in that region during the Century War.

During the Averte Statum occupation of southern Africa, most members of the White African Colonies were either killed or deported to various other locations, but the practice of Jus Antiquus nonetheless continued among the black Africans native to the areas.

Philosophy
The ideology behind Jus Antiquus was pragmatic in nature, mainly citing ineffectiveness and high costs associated with incarceration, and the greater simplicity involved in public administration of corporal or capital punishment.

Because of this reasoning, proponents of Jus Antiquus shunned prisons and jails completely, preferring to use corporal punishment such as flogging or caning and - for serious crimes - various forms of capital punishment.

Short term forced labour (essentially slavery) was also used against financial crimes and debtors. In some White African Colonies in Namibia and Botswana, gladiatorial arenas were used to meet out punishments and/or give debtors an opportunity to repay debt by fighting.

Corporal punishment
A huge variety of crimes were punishable by flogging. Unlike Sharia, systems based on Jus Antiquus did not use any form of amputation as a punishment.

Flogging was carried out in public for public amusement. Depending on the severity of the crime, various instruments could be used, ranging from simple canes to the infamous cat-o-nine tails.

Crimes punishable by flogging included theft, assault, mugging, serious harassment (including sexual harassment and minor cases of rape), vandalism, gross negligence, fraud, tax evasion, smuggling and, in some cases, drug dealing.

Capital punishment
Under Jus Antiquus, any form of murder was punishable by death. Death was usually carried out in public using various methods, including hanging, firearms and beheading.

In special circumstances, however, users of Jus Antiquus had available to them a repertoire of elaborate and often extremely painful and violent execution techniques for use against the most serious offenders. These were known as the Blood Venges, and consisted of four execution techniques inspired by methods used in medieval and early modern age Europe.

Hanging, drawing and quartering was a torturous execution method that involved non-fatal hanging followed by live evisceration and quartering. Under Jus Antiquus, it was available for use against spies, traitors and terrorists.

Breaking at the wheel was a method that involved crushing the victim's bones with a mallet and weaving the broken body into the spokes of a cartwheel, where the victim would eventually die. Under Jus Antiquus, this was used against particularly violent murders and torture murders, and often against any kind of torture.

Burning alive was used against serious rapists and child molesters. It could involve burning at the stake or periodic lowering of the victim into a fire using a pulley or crane mechanism.

Boiling alive was used - in the most generic sense - against those who murdered for financial gain, including criminal kingpins and hired killers.

Known victims of the Blood Venges.
Like the hadud punishments of Sharia, the extreme penalties were designed in such a way that they should never actually be used. Despite this, however, various practitioners of Jus Antiquus did nonetheless resort to using the punishments, and all four harsh penalties were brought down on numerous victims during the centuries preceding the Great Unification.
 * Sabato Gottardo was boiled living as a contract killer by the Italian Risorgimento, in reprisal for murdering Izador Javec, among others.
 * Kai Naude was boiled living as an assassin in Zimbabwe.
 * Duma Zitha was broken at the wheel for his practice of African Carnism, in reprisal for his own use of Jus Antiquus to boil Kai Naude for assassinating Black Africans.