VERDICT IN: Crowd Hangs History's Heaviest Label on Emperor Taishō, and King George Escapes in Second Place

Habemus verdictum. The crowd was asked which named historical leader best fits the label of genocide, the gravest charge in the whole vocabulary of statecraft, and it did not take a year to deliberate. It took less than a day. The answer it has settled on is Emperor Taishō of Japan, now on top at 30% consensus.

Readers should be clear about what kind of judgment this is. This is no tribunal at The Hague. It is an opinion market on Morfi, where people back their interpretation of documented actions and context with real money. The question was which leader *feels most suited* to the designation, so this is a verdict of conviction and not a ruling of law. Cum grano salis, as we professors like to say before we say anything at all.

In second place, and in the uncomfortable company of the accused, sits "King George of the UK" at 22% consensus. The ballot does not say which George, and in a royal line that has produced several of them, that is quite an omission. Further down the field are 3 other sides, who for now have been let off by the crowd and may consider themselves lucky the market did not run longer.

Why the Taishō Emperor in particular, a monarch whose reign usually gets far less attention in the history books than those of his father and his son? I will offer an opinion, and it is only an opinion: the crowd may be judging the throne more than the man, holding the office responsible for the era it presided over. Whether that counts as historical rigour or the old appetite for a single villain, I leave to the seminar room. This sort of argument is not new. Our desk recently covered a similar blame battle in which the crowd pointed at Woodrow Wilson, and clearly the public's urge to put the past in the dock is a durable one.

The numbers so far: 79 unique traders have staked $420,556 on their reading of history. That is a modest sum for so heavy a question, but sic transit gloria mundi, and so does a market leader. If you think the crowd has the wrong defendant, or the wrong George, you can join the market on Morfi and put your conviction where your footnotes are.