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"Human beings hardly ever learn from the experience of others. They learn; when they do, which isn't often, on their own, the hard way."
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The courtarena is introduced in this story; it is a somewhat tamer version than that presented in later books dealing with the same "universe."
McKie testifying in this picture from Galaxy:
(McKie testifies in Courtarena in 'The Tactful Saboteur') The courtarena also figures prominently in The Dosadi Experiment, an excellent novel and the last in the series that dealt with the universe of the Consentiency. Everyone in the courtarena, plaintiffs, defendants, judges, lawyers and the audience, were all at risk when Gowachin law was at stake. According to the Gowachin, everyone was guilty of something; only the innocent were suspect. One rather admirable characteristic of Gowachin law was that the stakes meant that there were very few lawsuits, and fewer lawyers. In this excerpt from the novel, Jorj X. McKie, Saboteur Extraordinary, was in danger of being found innocent: The instruments of Truth-by-Pain had been arrayed on their ancient rack below the judges. Seldom brought out of their wrappings even for display to visiting dignitaries these days, the instruments had not been employed in the arena within the memory of a living witness. McKie had expected this display. The traditional ending of a legal contest in the Gowachin courtarena was those who were found Gowachin-guilty (innocent) were torn apart by the audience just outside the doors. The Gowachin had many useful aphorisms; here's a good one for those who seek "justice" - Justice belongs to those who claim it, but let the claimant beware lest he create new injustice by his claim and thus set the bloody pendulum of revenge into its inexorable motion. Read more about the Gowachin in the entry for graluz, the place where they raised their young. Comment/Join this discussion ( 1 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This | Additional
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Science Fiction
Timeline
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