The Supreme Court is a type of administrative building in Napoleon: Total War.
Description[]
A supreme court is the most magnificent for legal matters, but it also a symbol of the rule of law.
And those laws may have a great deal to do with keeping the people in order, rather than granting them life and liberty. This building adds greatly to the repression of the people and, because of the sanctions that judgements here can impose, it also makes the job of tax collection much more efficient. An errant taxpayer dragged before this court should be in fear of losing more than just his purse! The threat of law is also the sanction that is required for recruiting soldiers.
In addition to his military genius, Napoleon is also well known for his code of laws, the Code Civil, that established an easily understood legal framework in 1805. This was not the only law code that the Revolution produced. The Penal Code of 1791 simplified the criminal justice system too. Despite being codes of justice, the codes were not all that fair to everyone concerned: the accused in a criminal case, for example, was not necessarily allowed a defence lawyer. By not being bound by precedent, cases were argued on their apparent merits, not on whether previous legal judgements could be used to sway the judge on the power of tradition.
General Information[]
Building a Supreme Court requires a Court of Appeals already in place, as well as the Dialectics technology to be researched. The Supreme Court is the highest-tier administrative building in Napoleon: Total War, providing the biggest bonus to repression and tax rate. It is also one of the most expensive and time consuming structures to build, at 12,000 gold and 12 turns respectively. Like all other final tier buildings, it may only be built in a faction's capital region, and it grants bonuses to all regions but only if it exists in a faction's home region. Its local bonuses always apply, regardless of where it is built.
The repression bonus it gives to all regions stacks with its inherent repression bonus, for a total of +6 in its region (if located in the home region).
Like all other administrative buildings, the Supreme Court'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 Supreme Court 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--a Supreme Court nearly doubles the tax revenue of a region. 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.
The Peninsular Campaign[]
In The Peninsular Campaign, Supreme Courts require 6,000 gold and 10 turns to build. Unlike Napoleon: Total War, no technologies are required to build this building.