Right of Denial

"Your condition gives you a temporary reprieve from these marching orders, Master Devan, though I fully expect you are opting for the same choice Master Lanius and the rest of the Academy staff have made personally.''" "What . . . what choice?" "''The Right of Denial, of course. I would beg you to reconsider, but I doubt you would hear me."

- Darrus Jeht and Devan For'deschel

The Right of Denial was a Jedi tradition that allowed members of the Jedi Order to protest against a decision made by the Jedi Council, the Order's governing body. During the Clone Wars, the right was invoked by the Jedi instructors of the Almas Academy, a Jedi academy that was located on the planet Almas, after the Council attempted to conscript them to fight in the conflict.

Description
"I didn't just walk away from the Order-I didn't exercise Right of Denial. I stopped being a Jedi."

- Gotab, on his resignation from the Jedi Order

The Right of Denial was tradition followed by the Jedi Order which, when invoked, allowed a Jedi to protest against an order from the Jedi Council, the Order's governing body. The right was rarely used and by the time of the waning years of the Galactic Republic, entreating the Right of Denial was considered to be almost treasonous. Jedi who beseeched the right had to hand in their lightsabers to the Order and were stripped of their legal authority, leaving them as Jedi in name only, and possessing a lightsaber while still protesting a Council decision was a criminal offense. Calling upon the Right of Denial was not regarded as a denouncement of the the Jedi Order and was an act of contempt only against the Jedi Council, not against the Jedi Code, the guiding principles of the Order.

History
"I will be on my ship, awaiting the last of the Jedi here . . . or their lightsabers."

- Darrus Jeht, on the Almas Jedi

During the Clone Wars, a conflict that was fought between the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems, Devan For'deschel, who was recovering from surgery on her arm, and he informed her of the other instructors' invocation of the right. For'deschel was surprised by their decision and began considering whether to entreat the Right of Denial herself.

Jeht subsequently departed Almas and Qel-Bertuk's lightsaber was sent to Coruscant, the world on which the Jedi Council was based, as a protest. The implementation of the right left the Almas Jedi without a right of representation on Coruscant and meant that the Republic no longer considered the Almas Academy to be an active Jedi academy. As a result, Jeht invoked the Emergency Powers Act and placed the Cularin system under martial law.

Behind the scenes
The Right of Denial was created by August Hahn and Cynthia Hahn and featured in Marching Orders, a short story that was published on Wizards.com in 2005, as a supplement to the Living Force role-playing campaign. The right later was later mentioned in the 2008 novel Revelation. Participants of the Living Force campaign role-play as player-created charactersLiving Force Campaign Guide and Marching Orders gives Jedi player characters the the choice of leaving Almas with Jeht, or invoking the Right of Denial and remaining in the Cularin system. Those that choose to utilize the right send their lightsabers to Coruscant and are eventually given replacement lightsabers by Felanil Baaks.

Appearances

 * Revelation
 * Revelation