Pol Cabmuc

Pol Cambuc (1818-1907) was a Lathadun politician, jurist, and academic in the time of the Lathadun Federation and the later founding of the Republic of Lathadu. His daughter, Joan Cabmuc, was a diplomat and stateswoman.

Early years
Cabmuc was born at Beallagh, in the southwestern part of the country, to a freeholder family of farmers and craftsmen. During his youth, he was at one point described by his father as, “constantly reading, scribbling, writing, ciphering, etc.” On Nature was a book that is said to have particularly influenced him, as well as informing his later work as a jurist. He was educated first by a series of tutors, before being sent to study at the Najoor University in Calleebane. As a student, he published his first two works: Observations on Education (1837) and The Sedic Legal Tradition (1839). He also penned several anonymous essays at this time, criticizing the federation’s system of government and having them printed under various pseudonyms. He entered correspondence with like-minded people at this time, formulating many ideas that would later be put into practice by him and his colleagues.

He also met his wife Essa at this time, who was studying to be a physician in Calleebane at the same time he was learning the practice of law. In 1840 he became a lawyer at the courts of Calleebane, and soon obtained so great a reputation that he was instructed by the local government in 1845 to draw up the decree outlining changes to certain areas of law, namely the area of marriage. From 1853 to 1856, Cabmuc was one of four administrators that oversaw the city’s judicial system.

Silent Years
In 1854 the period of political repression known as the Silent Years began, under the rule of the tyrant Lanshad Teige. Cabmuc was imprisoned for being the brother in law of Laurys Clague, the leader of an Anti-Aristocrats in Lathadu’s southwest. He was later released and put under house arrest, where he remained until escaping with the help of allies under the cover of night in 1859. Cabmuc fled back to the southwest following his escape, declining the offer of his allies to escape into neighboring Ordrey with some others. Instead, he returned to his home region and set about working with ideological allies to build Anti-Aristocrat power in the region.

Coordinating with figures such as Carmac Kneale, he made up part of an underground network that worked to pass along information and help smuggle wanted individuals out of the country. Cabmuc continued penning his essays at this time, speaking out against the government and advocating for a new form of government. He also worked as a jurist and mediator at this time for disputes in the area, using his past legal experience to help solve disputes and maintain the presence of law during that time of conflict.

Under the republic
With Kneale’s formation of the Lathadun Republic’s first government as Premier in 1871, Kneale personally recommended Cabmuc be placed on the commission responsible for drafting the new nation’s laws and legal codes. Of this commission he was the most notable member, and many of the most important titles, notably those on marriage and heirship, are either inspired by or a product of his work. He gave a famous speech, “Preliminary Discourse on the Project of Codification,” in which he presented the core principles of the civil code: legal certainty, the notion of public order, and the forbidding of older legal principles that were characteristic of the old regime’s judges, which were contrary to the idea that only the law prevails. The only individual aside from his collaborators who he had regular contact with while he worked on the code was his wife, Essa, who remained supportive as the two exchanged letters.

The drafting process took four long years before it was finished by the commissioned group of scholars, and it was not without a great many contributions from Cabmuc. He was instrumental in providing definitions for various categories of contracts, as well as laying down the basic logical foundation that the civil code was built from. He was also instrumental in ensuring it followed the same logical progression of existing codes; he described it in one letter to Essa. “It is as if we are attempting to choreograph a great dance, instructing the people of Lathadu to dance in a way that must come natural to them after the first few songs.” But, at the end of those four years, the National Diet ratified the civil code, providing the first cohesive authority on the subject. Once finished, Kneale offered Cabmuc a position on his Second Cabinet as Minister of Justice. Cabmuc turned down the offer as too political, instead requesting a position on the newly-created Supreme Appellate Court. Kieran Corlett, Kneale’s second choice for Minister of Justice, gladly made the appointments. Once on the court, Cabmuc kept active politically but worked behind the scenes, as was then acceptable. He was among Kneale’s chief advisors to his sweeping social reforms and programs through various intermediaries. Many of his intellectual disciples held influential jobs, especially in the Ministry of Justice. Cabmuc and Ainle Carine (who served together briefly on the Supreme Court of Appeals) often collaborated on political issues.

Later life
Cabmuc left the Supreme Court of Appeals in 1889 at the age of 71 due to his sight beginning to fail. Almost immediately, he was offered a position at the National Legal Institute of Calleebane as Associate Dean of Studies, but he instead requested a professorship. He taught courses there on his Civil Code and its applications in the fields of contract, family law, labor law, and mortgages and sureties. He regularly performed guest lectures at other legal institutes, both domestically and abroad, as well as receiving the occasional request from the National Diet to read over laws or proposed amendments to the code as well. As his eyesight began to worsen, however, he began increasingly deferring these requests to respected colleagues.

After suffering a mild stroke in 1901, he retired from his position and retired to his Calleebane home, having been granted a pension for he and his spouse to live on. He spent his remaining years gardening and giving occasional guest lectures at the National Legal Institute, before dying in his sleep at his home in 1907 at the age of 89.

Personal life
Despite his many roles and constant work, Cabmuc was described as a loving husband to his wife and a dedicated father to his children. After moving to Calleebane, Essa began working with the city’s nascent Public Health department to help organize medical care in the city. Cabmuc constantly and lovingly referred to Essa while speaking and writing to his colleagues, describing her as, “my one truest joy in all life.” The couple had five children in total, losing their second youngest, Iney, to disease when she was six while Cabmuc was away from home working as a jurist. He was so struck by grief that he returned home to be with his family every night for three months after her passing. The remaining four of their children were adults by the time he was appointed to the Supreme Court of Appeals, but he kept in close correspondence with each as they continued their lives. He and Essa both taught them to read at a young age, although they were primarily instructed by a series of tutors.

Cabmuc is recorded to have stood at more than 2 meters high and weighed 110 kg. He had long, wavy brown hair that he kept neatly brushed and back out of his face, and even grew a moustache in his later years (he kept his face shaved in his youth as a matter of convenience upon becoming a jurist, not wishing to fuss over its maintenance). Many record him as walking with a limp, which may have occurred as the result of a childhood field accident. He walked with a cane later in life, but regularly went on walks until his death. While never showing any signs of religiousness publicly, he was described as being very superstitious by some colleagues, and it is believed that he or many in his family abided by Canachism. He was a practiced painter in his free time, painting many portraits while maintaining a love of both cooking and gardening from his youth throughout his life.