Well not quite, it seemed. The Sword's powers in some respects were quite sweeping, vague in other respects, and restricted in everything. Sure, in a matter of life and death, he could make a rather hard decision and let the king sort things out after everything had calmed down. In some cases, he could pronounce judgement in the king's name over a matter of justice. However, he couldn't do this when the matter involved a noble without the king explicitly giving him leave to do so, unless it involved murder. However, he could judge on any matter when it involved commoners… except when it involved murder. One would honestly think that would be exactly the sort of scenario he would be able to make a decision on.