The Court of Appeals is a type of administrative building in Napoleon: Total War.
Description[]
The force of law, symbolized by this court, is a powerful weapon in the government's armoury.
This court is the power of the state rendered in magnificent fashion and, even if appeals are successful, it helps keep order by greatly adding to the repression of the region. Given that the state acts as prosecutor and pays the judges, who understand where their duty lies, it is also an effective way of punishing those who choose not to support the state. Legal sanctions back demands for tax, and there may be little point in a man arguing against them. The courts also have the power to enforce military demands for recruits.
Without an appeals procedure, courts of law had no means of self correction or review: the decision of the judge was absolute and final. Appeals to a king, consul or president were sometimes possible, but executive mercy was often whimsical and based on social position or political expediency. In theory, an appeals court removed politics and social standing from the applications of law, although in practice this was rarely the case. Simply put: a gentleman or merchant had the money to pay for an appeal, while a poor man did not. This one fact alone made the courts a subtle tool of social repression and control.
General Information[]
Building Courts of Appeals require pre-existing Courts of Justice and the Trade Unions technology. For most regions, the Court of Appeals is the highest level administrative building. Capital regions, however, may build one tier higher with the Supreme Court. Courts of Appeals cost 6,000 gold to build and require 10 turns.
Representing the final tier of administrative buildings in most regions, the Court of Appeals grants a region an increase tax rate, as well as a bonus to repression. This makes it useful in rich regions, as well as regions with high unrest. The Court of Appeals does not generate more repression than its predecessor, the Court of Justice. This is in contrast to the cultural line of buildings: the Great Museum, the final cultural building in most regions, grants +4 happiness. This makes the Court of Appeals an inferior choice to build when attempting to control a region with high unrest.
Like all other administrative buildings, the Court of Appeals's increase to tax income does not have a negative impact on public order, but it does increase the penalty on town wealth growth. Unless it is exempted from tax entirely, a region with a Court of Appeals has a slower wealth growth than a region without one. A region without an administrative building, on the other hand, can't exploit its taxable income as fully. In some cases, it may be worth delaying building an administrative building in a region until its wealth has built up somewhat, to increase income in the long run.
Upgrading a Court of Appeals creates the Supreme Court, which provides a higher bonus to taxable income, furthers the civil branch of the technology tree, and provides higher repression to its region.
The Peninsular Campaign[]
Courts of Appeals are available in The Peninsular Campaign. In contrast to the standard campaigns, the administrative line of buildings are extremely important to the French: most of their regions have very high unrest, and any repression helps. For the British and the Spanish, the presence of a low-tier administrative building (or the lack of one) is a good indication that a region is ripe for causing a rebellion.
Courts of Appeals are built a turn faster than their entertainment-line counterparts, great museums. This makes them better at increasing public order in the short run. However, as most regions in The Peninsular Campaign are extremely poor, the entertainment line of buildings will make them generate proportionally more wealth in the long run.