Dark age of the law

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The Ruined Courtroom No. 4

The Dark Age of the Law refers to the general distrust of the legal system by the general public when the Legal System was rife with scandal. The Dark Age was caused by two separate but damning incidents. First was the Gramarye murder case where the lawyer of the case, Phoenix Wright, was accused and found guilty of presenting forged evidence. The second is called the UR-1 Incident and centered around the prosecution and conviction of a new prosecutor, Simon Blackquill. 

Impact

As a result of those two incidents a general attitude soon became prevalent amongst the legal system: "By whatever means necessary" and "The end justifies the means." This caused the legal system to be involved in many cases where the prosecution or the defense used fabricated evidence in order to secure victory for themselves. This had the consequence of ignoring the truth, and shattering the trust between lawyers and prosecutors which before used to work together to find the truth. A law school called the Themis Legal Academy was at the forefront of this attitude where students were taught to win at any cost and without thought of the consequence of their actions; any student with a criminal record was forever banned from ever graduating from the Academy, hence barred from ever entering the Legal System as anything other than a suspect.

Phoenix Wright's Involvement

Main article: Turnabout Succession

When Phoenix Wright was accused of using falsified evidence he was later found guilty of using it and disbarred from practicing law. Because he was famous for his miracle turnabouts whenever his client was about to be found guilty, his guilt was used as a justification for presenting forged evidence in court for attorneys to win at any cost.

Simon Blackquill's Involvement

Main article: Turnabout For Tomorrow

Simon was a rookie prosecutor at the time of the UR-1 Incident but his conviction and sentence brought the prosecutor's office into disrepute causing prosecutors to be distrusted. Simon's later practice as a working prosecutor even as a convict was also met with criticism and was decried at during one of his trials. Despite Miles Edgeworth's efforts, the prosecutor's office was also rife with corruption and rumors of evidence tampering in order to win a conviction.

End of the dark times

Main article: Turnabout For Tomorrow and Turnabout Succession

After Apollo Justice convicted former defense attorney and mentor Kristoph Gavin, Wright was proven innocent of forging evidence and was able to retake the bar exam and get his attorney badge back a few months later. A year later, Blackquill was proven innocent of his own crimes thanks to Wright and Athena Cykes. Even though both Wright and Blackquill were cleared of suspicion, Wright mentioned they still had to work hard to fully bring light upon the legal system, and regain the trust between lawyers and prosecutors.