Again, for those reading this post, please do your diligence before believing these myths.
For a no-nonsense understanding of Geneva’s legal system in Calvin’s day, look up legal historian John Witte Jr. (his site is under his full name). If you search for “CHURCH, STATE, AND FAMILY IN JOHN CALVIN’S GENEVA: Domestic Disputes and Sex Crimes in Geneva’s Consistory and Council John Witte, Jr.” you should find his paper. I quote from it below.
In short: Geneva was a republic with four elected councils that drafted, ratified, and enforced the laws. Calvin was a pastor, not a magistrate. He sat on the Consistory, which had no formal legal power and had to refer cases to the Small Council. That council sometimes accepted his recommendations and sometimes rejected them- they were not his “fanboys,” to put it bluntly.
Witte notes that in difficult cases the Small Council might ask the Consistory for more fact-finding or advice. Calvin was often sent to present those recommendations, and sometimes he went on his own initiative to urge clearer laws or more equitable treatment. But he was “sometimes accommodated, sometimes rebuffed”... hardly a dictator holding a dagger over elected officials.
I’m done with this thread, but I’d really encourage anyone interested to read the history before latching onto dogmatic slogans just because they’re confidently stated.