For this lesson, we are going to branch off in a different direction than the one we have been on. It might be a long-winded and wordy direction, but it is essential if you are to truly understand the conflict between our different worlds.

    

    Hopefully you will have noticed an underlying concept throughout the lessons. The concept in question is that of justice and judicial systems. Focusing on the muggle world, there are several hundred different nations within their world and each one has a varying type of legal system created to maintain balance, safety, and order within their communities. This is much like the Wizarding world, but witches and wizards have quite a few advantages regarding law and order compared to the non-magical race. 

                               

The Wizengamot

 

     The Wizengamot is the high court of wizarding law in Britain. The Wizengamot gets its name from the Witan, also known as the Witenagemot, from Anglo-Saxon England. Witan is defined as "an assembly of higher ecclesiastics and important laymen, including king's thegns, who met to counsel the king on matters such as judicial problems."

    

     There are several different kinds of members within this high court. The head of the Wizengamot is called the Chief Warlock. Those who preside over a hearing or a trial are called the Interrogators. A Court Scribe takes notes of the proceedings.
Wizengamot members wear plum-colored robes with an elaborate silver "W" on the left side.

     Relating to criminal cases, the Wizengamot has the power to convict, judge, and sentence suspected criminals by trial or hearing at the Ministry of Magic. The hearings are held within the lower levels of the Ministry. The infamous courtroom most are familiar with is Courtroom Ten, located on Level 10. The walls of Courtroom Ten are dark stone, dimly lit by torches and there is a chair in the middle of the room , where the accused sits, that has magical chains attached to it (Lexicon). Rather intimidating, don't you think? Keep the description of the courtroom in mind for future use. Members of the Wizengamot are seated around the room on raised, stone benches.

    

     According to the Wizengamot Charter of Rights, the accused is allowed to call witnesses in his or her defense and to be represented by another person.          

         
     The Wizengamot also appears to act as a form of Parliament: the various Decrees introduced during Cornelius Fudge's reign in office are referred to as being passed and sanctioned by the Wizengamot, just as Muggle laws in Britain must be agreed to by Parliament. The Minister of Magic has the power to veto any motion brought before the Wizengamot, but just as most forms of government, the motion must past with a majority vote.

Known members of the Wizengamot, past and present:

* Albus Dumbledore
* Cornelius Fudge
* Amelia Bones
* Dolores Umbridge
* Griselda Marchbanks
* Tiberius Ogden

    

     Per common sense, there are many more known members of the Wizengamot if the Minister of Magic has say and veto power over criminal and parliamentary cases. 

What is Bureaucracy?                      

Bureaucracy is structure set of regulations in place to control activity, usually in large organizations and government.

Four central structural concepts:

- has a standardized procedure

- well-defined division of administrative labor among persons and offices

- hierarchy among offices

- impersonal relationships

Ministry of Magic – A Self-Interested Bureaucratic Government

     One of the earliest Muggle public choice scholars, William Niskanen, stated the following statements:

- self interested bureaucrats would seek to expand their budgets and influence at the expense of the public.

- they look out for their own interest ahead of the interests of the Public.

     As mentioned in Lesson One, Bartemius Crouch Sr. is a prime example of a political official who ignored proper protocol and laws to save his reputation. As we all remember, Bartemius Crouch Sr. helped his convicted felon son escape Azkaban by switching Barty Jr. with his deathly ill wife. He proceeded to hid his son in his house for many years, until Barty Jr. broke through the Imperious curse Crouch Sr. had placed on him to go find and resurrect the Dark Lord. At the Quidditch World cup, Crouch Sr. lost control of his son and ended up completely destroying Ministry policy, lying to fellow workers, and, through circumlocution, aided in the new birth of the Lord Voldemort.

 

          

 Analysis of the Ministry of Magic

 

- 100% bureaucracy

- There is a Ministry of Magic, those of whom are appointed, not elected (Although it is unclear who appoints the Minister of Magic, perhaps an elitist group of wizards and witches)

- There are multiple offices and committees under the command of the Minister of Magic (which appear to be classic bureaucracies within bureaucracies)

- Each of the offices (Department) is staffed by a junior minister with their own area of responsibility

- There is a judicial body, the Wizengamot, which is also known as the Wizard High Court.

- No government bodies outside the Ministry of Magic to maintain checks and balances (meaning there are no checks an balances), leaving the possibility of abusing power high. 

Examples of Bureaucracy’s Actions

 

- Ministry employee, Dolores Umbridge, went on a power trip and initiated her own council of power at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy. Cornelius Fudge had sent Dolores Umbridge to administer Hogwarts in order to keep an eye on Albus Dumbleore as he was vehemently proclaiming Lord Voldemort had returned.

 

- Rubeus Hagrid, a teachers at Hogwarts, was sent to the Azkaban without a hearing or a trial. The rationalization behind the Ministry's quick actions were to protect the students of Hogwarts. Of course, the fact Hagrid was half-giant payed a part in the rapid and unfair decision. The common phrase 'spare one to save many' would apply to this situation.

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- The wizard prison, Azkaban, is guarded by dementors, magical beings that suck all hope and life out of the inmates. The dementors, supposedly under the control of the Ministry of Magic, but they eventually switched sides and support Lord Voldemort. 

 

During the escape of Sirius Black, many witches,wizards, and even muggles, were calling for capital punishment of min. While we learn that capital punishment is not seemingly a major part of the wizarding justice system, wizards do use the living embodiments of depression and hopelessness - Dementors - to "protect" them.. During certain circumstances, they seem willing to let a person's soul be sucked out by one of these fearsome creatures. Is capital punishment a worse fate than being a drooling invalid without a soul? Were people, including Albus Dumbledore at the time, right to disagree with the use of these creatures to contain, among other people, some of the worst Death Eaters of the age?

    

     It is truly interesting, when organized like this, how much injustice the Ministry of Magic has delved out over the many centuries. Unfair trials or no trials at all, false accusations and sentencing, abuse of political power by Ministry officials. Sadly, it is nothing we haven't seen before, which goes to show as superior as some wizards and witches feel they are to magical creatures, squibs, half-bloods, half-breeds, and muggle, they still have the ability to fall from grace and be as inhuman and unjust as anyone else.

    

    Please head over to November's Assignment! It shouldn't be too torturous.

 

(Retrieved 2007; HP-Lexicon)