Jurisprudence
'OBJECTION,' Erik thought intensely, staring across the room to narrow his eyes at Charles. 'Counsel is spying on the Defence's strategy by rifling through their minds.'
Charles flinched, and Erik experienced a moment of vicarious guilt which quickly transformed into self-righteousness. Oh, Charles.
'Surely it is in both our interests for me to find out whether he's actually guilty, Erik,' Charles thought back at him sullenly. 'If he truly is innocent, I shouldn't even be prosecuting this case.'
'I wonder how it is that you can be so very brilliant with the law, Charles, and yet completely fail to understand the theories underpinning your legal system,' Erik told him dryly. 'Every man is entitled to representation. Every man is entitled to be assumed innocent. We balance the interests of the individual against the interests of society by pitting two evenly matched opponents against each other to argue until the facts become clear. An adversarial system of law can only function if you preserve those precepts.'
'But where is the need for that, when I KNOW?' Charles answered, frustrated. 'Of course it is better to let ten guilty men go free than to imprison one innocent, but if it can be known, without a shadow of a doubt, that a person is guilty of exactly what they are accused of, then how can I be responsible for allowing them to escape punishment and perhaps re-offend?'
'And yet, Charles, you cannot expect an entire legal system to be built upon your abilities, upon your integrity,' Erik argued back, a snap in his mental voice. 'You cannot play judge and juror and prosecution besides. Would you make yourself God? Perhaps you believe that instead of being a Defence attorney, I should be out using my powers in an attempt to single-handedly solve the energy crisis?'
Charles does not bother to dignify this with a response. It is an old argument, one that has reached its usual impasse.
"Gentleman, is there a problem?" the judge asked dryly. Charles and Erik had a reputation. There was a fairly even split amongst the bench of those who delighted in the entertainment of seeing the two face off in their court, and those who bemoaned the headache. Justice MacTaggert varied from day to day.
"No, Your Honour," Charles lied, scowling at Erik, and Erik smirked back.
Really, he thought, more privately this time, Charles should have known from the start that their relationship was doomed; their ideologies were too different. Charles could not understand how Erik could defend criminals who were guilty of such terrible things, and Erik refused to accept Charles's over-simplification of justice, exacerbated by his powers. It was destined for failure.
And yet somehow, they were still too drawn to each other to put a stop to it, which had left them infamous as the most tumultuous on-again/off-again relationship in the legal community. Erik loathed gossip, but it seemed he was forever consigned to being a source of it.
"Shall we begin, my learned friend?" he suggested, raising his eyebrow, and Charles grinned.
"If the Court pleases," he said, with a nod to the judge just this side of cheeky, "we shall indeed."