Tatrix Lady Aasiyah Admin
Number of posts : 391 Registration date : 2009-01-02
| Subject: Merchant Law Mon Jan 26, 2009 11:23 am | |
| MERCHANT LAW
There is a saying on Gor, " Gold has no caste". I is a saying of which the merchants are fond, Indeed secretly among themselves. I have heard they regard themselves as the highest Caste on Gor, though they would not say so for fewer of rousing the indignation of other Castes. There would be something, of course, to be said for such a claim., for the merchants are often indeed in their way, brave, shrewd, skilled men, making long journeys, venturing their goods, risking caravans, negotiating commercial agreements, amongst themselves developing and enforcing a body of merchant law., the only common legal arrangement existing among the Gorean Cities.
Merchants also, if effect, arrange and administer the four great fairs that takes place each year near the Sardar Mountains. I say "in effect: because the fairs are nominally under the direction of a committee of the Caste of Initiates, which, however largely content itself with its ceremonies and sacrifices, and is only to happy to delegate the complex management of those vast, commercial phenomena, the Sadar Faris, to members of the lowly, much despised Caste of Merchants, without which, incidentally, the fairs most likely would not exist, certainly not at any rate in their current form. Nomads of Gor page 84
The fairs, too, however, have many other functions. It is here the Merchant Law is drafted and stabilized. Beasts of Gor Page 44
Aside from being the law system adopted by many trade ports and cities, merchant law is said to be almost universally applied in areas of trade. It is almost the only law which commonly binds all cities, with probable exceptions (as with most things). Merchant law is drafted and stabilized at the fairs which are held four times a year at the foot of the Sardar Mountains. It covers as many aspects of trade and merchanting as one can think of, including, of course the market of human property.
The fairs incidentally are governed by Merchant Law and supported by booth rents and taxes levied on the items exchanged. The commercial facilities of these fairs, from money changing to general banking, are the finest I know of on Gor, save those in Ar's street of coins, and letters of credit are accepted and loans negotiated, though often at usurious rates, with what seems reckless indifference. Yet perhaps this is not so puzzling, for the Gorean cities will, within their own alls, enforce the Merchant Law when pertinent, even against their own citizens. If they did not, of courts, the fairs would be closed to the citizens of that city.\ Priest Kings of Gor Page 10
It is important to understand the separation of jurisdiction when it comes to areas which have matters of civil law from matters of merchant law. In the case of slaves for example, the laws by which one may be enslaved, the laws which determine what a slave may or may not do in public places will be a matter of civil law. the laws which pertain to the classification, training, certification and selling of slaves as market items, however are clearly under Merchant law. On slave trade it is said that most of the elements of Merchant Law which covers this specially were born of the slave wars, a series of wars which occurred among various cities in the middle latitudes of Gor, off and on, over a period of approximately a generation. These wars grew much of the Merchant Law pertaining to slaves as well as some of the criteria for the standardization of the female slave as a commodity. Laws pertaining to the right for certification and the standardization of criteria for such certification are matters of Merchant Law. Slave trade however, is but one market in a sea of market, all of which are subject to regulations of Merchant Law.
The scales used by merchants, for example are calibrated by using a stone which is standardized and calibrated by using the official "stone" kept at Sardar. A similar rule exists for all "official" measurements used in trade.
The weight and the stone, incidentally, are standardized thought the Gorean cities by Merchant Law, the only common body of law existing among the cities. The official "stone" actually a sold metal cylinder, is kept by the way, near the Sardar. Four times a year, on a given day in each of the four greats fairs held annually near the Sardar, it s brought forth with scales, that merchants from whatever city may test their own standard "stone" against it. As in th case of the official "Stone" so too at the Sardar is a metal rod, which determines the Merchant foot, or gorean foot as I have called it. Raider of Gor page 127-128
Merchant law has been unsuccessful, as yet in introducing such things as patents, and copyrights on Gor. Such things do exist in municipal law on gor but the jurisdiction involved are, of course local Magicians of Gor page 394
Merchant law provides the rule by which certification and pedigrees will be produced , the registering of breed and lineage information for cattle domestic animals as well as slaves, The breeding of slaves is subject to a number of conditions as is the manner in which child of slaves are treated and/or handled. In most cities a child born to a slave is also a slave even if the child was conceived by a Free man, Free men wishing to have Free children born of their slave girls are said to temporarily free them for the time of childbirth. There are exceptions of course as with most rules, the city of Tharna for example, in post -revolt era, modified its laws so that a slave girls may give birth to Free persons as long as they were Free at the time of conception. This of course makes the temporary freedom much shorter. The youth of Tharna is usually brad from women temporarily freed for purpose of their conception, then enslaved. In Tharna Law a person conceived by a Free person by a Free person is considered to be a Free person, even if they are carried and borne by a slave. In many other cities this is different, the usual case being that the offspring of a slave is a slave, and belongs to the mothers Owner. Vagabonds of Gor chapter 26
Slavers are considered a sub-caste of the Merchants although there is mention that the slavers themselves rather consider themselves to be an independent caste. The fact is though, that the rules and laws which pertain to the trade of human property are clearly stated as part of the Merchant Law. It is interesting to note that although most cities have their own enslavement laws, Merchant Law seems to have established a number of criteria that would be met before a slave is legally a slave by this law.
It is my understanding. Following the Merchant Law, and Tahari customs," I said "That I am not a slave, for though I am a prisoner. I have been neither brand or collared, nor have I performed a gesture of submission. Tribesmen of Gor page 196
You understand further, of course." said he, " that under Gorean Merchant Law, which is the only law commonly acknowledged binding between cities, that you stand under separate permission of the enslavement. first, were you of Ar, it would be my right, could I be successful, to make of you a slave , for we share no Home Stone. Secondly, though you speak of yourself as Lady Elicia of Ar, of Six Towers, you are , in actuality, Miss Elicia Nevins of the planet Earth. You are an Earth girl and thus stand within a general permission of enslavement, fair beauty quarry to any Gorean male whatsoever. Slave Girl of Gor page 394
The legal point I think is interesting. Sometimes in the fall of a city, girls who have been enslaved, girls formerly of the now victorious city will be freed. Technically, according to Merchant Law, which serves as a arbiter in such inter municipal matters, the girls becomes briefly the property of their rescuers, else how could they be freed? Further, according to Merchant Lw, the rescuer has no obligation to free the girl. In having been enslaved she has lost all claim to her former Home Stone. Explorers of Gor page 409
girls such as I must expect to be marked. she said. It is in accord with the recommendations of Merchant law. Kajira of Gor page 46
You're going to be branded." he said. and put in a collar. I regarded him with disbelief. But so too, will the other girls, he said. You will all have your brands and collars. I could not speak. such things are prescribed by Merchant Law. he said. Dancer of Gor page 62
Some fellows do not brand their slaves. I said. That is stupid she aid. It is also contrary to the laws of most cities. I said. And to Merchant Law, as well. Vagabonds of Gor. page 188
But her left thigh wore no brand. her right thigh too, as I soon noted, did not wear the slave mark, nor did her lower left abdomen. These are the three standard marking places, following the recommendations of Merchant Law, for the marking of Kajiae, with the left thigh being in practice the overwhelmingly favored brand site. Fighting Slave of Gor page 312
Merchant magistrates, officers of the law, are given the duties of law enforcement as well as the power to prosecute those who are caught breaking the law and applying whatever sentence is deemed appropriate depending on the nature of the offense. Permits and the rights to trade or earn a living by offering entertainment sometimes requires the payment of a few such as it is seen in festivals, fairs and such. The representative of the Merchants to whom I report my business, and to whom I paid for wharfage, asked no questions. He did not even demand the proof of registration of the Tesephone in Tabor,. The merchants who control Lydius, under Merchant Law, for it is a free port, like Helmuts port, and Schendi and Bazi are most interested in having their port heavily trafficked and strictly policed. Hunter of Gor page 43
Essentially, merchant law is guided by the codes of the Caste and serves as a consumer protection system as well as a means to maintain the credibility of the members of the merchants. By policing their own, merchants manage to establish and preserve the trust of the customer population. One would not wish to buy a girl thinking she was auburn, a rare and muchly prized hair color on Gor, for example, and then discover later she was, say blond, Against such fraud, needless to say, the law provides redress. Slavers will take pains to check out new catches or acquisitions, to ascertain the natural color of their hair, one of the items one expects to find, along with fingerprints and measurements, and such, on carefully prepared slave papers. Vagabonds of Gor Chapter 19
Merchant law almost allows for a form of neutral ground in time of conflict, offering goods and serices under an even opportunity and without having to be on one of the other side of a conflict.
Various cities, through their own Merchant Castes, lease land for these stockage and ,for their fees, keep their garrisons, usually men of their own cities, supplied. The stockades are governed under Merchant Law, legislated and revised, and upheld, at the Sardar Fairs. Captive of Gor page 219
He himself resided, I understood, in Telnus, the capital of Cos, where his company had its headquarters. His work chains, however were politically neutral, understood under Merchant Law, as hirable instruments. They might, accordingly and sometimes did work on both sides in given conflicts. Dancer of Gor page 322 | |
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