Glory and power
This book takes place during an era of human history that will likely be regarded as extremely beautiful and opulent. The book elevates the worth of the justice system by selecting one highly esteemed judge and canonizing his version of justice. His personal practice of applying law to chaotic human situations is a portrait of jurisprudence. For his powerful practice of law and his unparalleled ability to discern truth, the judge attains such glory, honor, and power that he is unable to enter the public domain without parades to honor him. The opulent nature of his dominion is a sign of highest worth.
Riddles and mysteries
Justice in theory is just a form of logical mathematics that can be infinitely elaborated, like Plato suggests in his Republic. But, this is not a book about justice in theory or in a vacuum. This is a portrait of how the theories of one's private revelation can be applied to the exercise of power in real human life. It is an example of discernment, therefore, because the judge is not asked for theory. He is asked to make harsh judgments after theory investigation and analysis. He is therefore a glorified solver of riddles, exercising his authority only once he has truly solved a criminal case.
Innocence and guilt
Therefore, the book automatically invokes and elaborates an imagery of innocence and guilt. Guilt arises as the book suggests, when a person is overwhelmed by zeal stemming from privately-held emotions, like the violent man in the first case or the vengeful man in the third case. Innocence is a passive state, therefore, because when a person has not done anything wrong, he is innocent in the eyes of the judge. The third case explores through imagery how the judge reveres and regards the worth of each citizen; he treats other people as if they are the highly honored person, until he finds a guilty citizen, whom he executes in gory and vulgar demonstrations of his power.
Death as sin and punishment
The morality of the law is sort of blind, because it is simply theory: The law means, for example, that if a person were to theoretically kill another person in cold blood, the law will react a specific way. However, the real portraits of human nature and the necessity for law are not theoretical. They are moralistic. The epic nature of the punishments is an appeal to the judge's sublime authority as a representative of justice. This moralism is oriented around death; causing death is the ultimate sin of human nature, and its punishment, shown in these three murder trials, is death.
