Laws of Free Men

FREE MEN
.


Family
"Some clue, then, as to her origins, may be there," I said. Goreans are
usually rather careful about such things as crests, signs, family
emblems, and such. Sometimes such things are actually registered, and
legally restricted in their use to given lines "
"Mercenaries of Gor" page 292





Outlaws

"A man who refused to practice his livelihood or strove to alter status
without the consent of the Council of High Castes was, by definition,
an outlaw and subject to impalement."
"Tarnsman of Gor" page 45/6





Brigands

"Surely you are a brigand," said the woman to me. "No," I said. "Then
you are a deserter," she said. "It would be death for you to be found."
"No," I said. "I am not a deserter."
"Mercenaries of Gor" page 18





Spies and deserters

"Beside the road, on the right, a human figure, head and legs dangling
downward, on each side, was fixed on an impaling stake. The stake was
some ten feet in height, and some four inches in diameter. It had been
wedged between rocks and braced with stones. Its point was roughly
sharpened, probably with an adz. This point had been entered in the
victim's back and thrust through with great force. It emerged from the
belly, and protruded some two feet above the body. "Perhaps that is a
spy," I said. "More likely it is a straggler or a deserter," said the
driver."
"Mercenaries of Gor" page 40





Thieves

"I then grew again bitter. "She sold a slave of mine," I said "unknown
to me and without right." "For a man," said Peggy, "such an offense is
punishable by exile. For a woman, remanded by a praetor, the penality
is commonly that she herself will then wear the collar." "Oh?" I asked.
"Yes," she said. "Enslave her."
"Rogue of Gor" page 146

"Men would find us with the loot about, and impale us!" said the
leader. That was not improbable. Thieves are often dealt with harshly
on Gor."
"Renegades of Gor" page 11

"Turgus of Port Kar," said the praetor, "in virtue of what we have here
today established, and in virtue of the general warrant outstanding
upon you, you are sentenced to banishment. If you are found within the
limits of the city after sunset this day you will be impaled."
"Explorers of Gor" page 58



"Chain them and hang them in collars at the inn!" said a fellow. Sometimes a man lasts two or three days in this fashion.
"Chain them on the boards," cried another. That is a similar form of
punishment. In it the victim is fastened, by collars and shackles, on
structures of parallel, upright boards, vertical platforms, in effect,
mounted on posts. These structures are most common in harbor cities,
near the wharves. The fellow who had made the suggestion was probably
from the river port of Ar’s Station. In the country, impalement is
often used, the pole usually being set up near a crossroads.
"Let them be trampled by tharlarion," said a fellow.
"No, let them be torn apart by them," said another. In this fashion
ropes are tied separately to the victim’s wrists and ankles, these
ropes then attached to the harnesses of two different tharlarion, which
are, of course, then driven in opposite directions.
“Yes, that is better,” agreed the first.
If one shares a Home Stone with the victim, of course, the punishment
is often more humane. A common punishment where this mitigating feature
obtains is to strip the victim, tie him to a post, beat him with rods
and then behead him. This, like the hanging in chains, the exposure on
boards, and such, is a very ancient modality of execution."
"Renegades of Gor" page 14/5





Debtors



"Male slaves are usually debtors or criminals."
"Beasts of Gor" page 236





Murderers

"Ha-Keel had been banished from Ar. It has been a matter of murder. A
woman had been involved. He had captured, raped and enslaved her, then
selling her."
"Fighting Slave of Gor" page 266

"Menicius!" he cried. "It was he who slew the Warrior of Thentis! Not
I!" "I have taken gold," I told him. I would not yet speak to him of
Sura.
"It was Menicius!" he wept.
"It was you who gave the order," I said.
"I will give you gold!" he cried.
"You have nothing," said I, "Cernus." I regarded him evenly. "You have lost all."
In an instant our blades had met in the swift discourse of flashing
steel. He was an excellent swordsman, very fast, cunning, strong.
"Excellent," I told him.
We moved about the room, over the tables and behind them, across the
square of sand. Once Cernus, moving backward, defending himself, fell
over the dais, and my sword was at his throat.
"Well," I said, "will it be my steel or the impaling spear of Ar's
justice?"
"Let it be your steel," he said.
"Assassin of Gor" page 382/3





Enter a city

"As was wise I avoided cities in my long journey, though I passed
several, for to enter a city without permission or without satisfactory
reason is tantamount to a capital crime, and the punishment is usually
a swift and brutal impalement. Pikes on the walls of Gorean cities are
often surmounted with the remains of unwelcome guests.2 "Outlaw of Gor"
page 49





False accusation of slavery

"Once, in Ko-ro-ba, I saw a slaver, before a magistrate, distinguish
such a girl, not even one of his own, from eleven free women. Each, in
turn, was asked to pour him a cup of wine, and then withdraw, nothing
more. At the end, the slaver rose to his feet and pointed to one of the
women.
“No!” she had cried. “I am free!” officers of the court, by order of
the magistrate, removed her garments. If she were free, the slaver
would be impaled."
"Hunters of Gor" page 156





Face-stripping

"Face-stripping a free woman, against her will, can be a serious crime
on Gor. On the other hand, Corcyrus had now fallen. Her women, thusly,
now at the feet of her conquerors, would be little better than slaves.
Any fate could now be inflicted on them that the conquerors might wish,
including making them actual slaves."
"Kajira of Gor" page 183

"Public face-stripping is the removal of the veils from a FreeWoman's
face by force. This is equivalent to stripping her completely naked,
but not so insulting is the removal of her Robes of Concealment. This
is consider the worst offense which might be performed against a
FreeWoman. It is the right, duty and privilege of a Gorean FreeWoman to
remain veiled. Even when captured by the Warriors of an enemy city, the
Freewoman will commonly be allowed to retain her veils at least until
her final fate has been decided. Sometimes, rather, she, stripped, and
presented before officers, is offered the choice between swift,
honorable decapitation and slavery. If she chooses slavery, she may be
expected to step onto a submission mat, and kneel there, head down,
enter a slave pen of her own accord, or, say, fully acknowledging
herself a slave, belly to an officer, kissing his feet. The question is
sometimes put to her in somewhat the following fashion. "If you are a
free woman, speak your freedom and advance now to the headsman's block,
or, if you are truly a slave, and have only been masquerading until now
as a free woman, step now, if you wish, upon the mat of submission and
kneel there, in this act becoming at last, explicitly, a legal slave."
She is then expected, sometimes, kneeling, to lick the feet of a
soldier, who then rapes her on the mat. It is commonly regarded as an
acceptable introduction for a woman to her explicit and legal slavery."

"Blood Brothers of Gor" page 337





Property

"By the laws of Port Kar, the ships, properties and chattles of Surbus,
he having been vanquished in fair combat and permitted the death of
blood and sea, became mine; his men stood ready to obey me; his ships
became mine to command; his hall became my h all; his riches mine, his
slaves mine. It was thus that I had become a captain in Port Kar, jewel
of gleaming Thassa."
"Marauders of Gor" page 2

"It then occurred to me, suddenly, that, following Gorean civic law,
the properties and titles, assets and goods of a given individual who
is reduced to slavery are automatically regarded as having been
transferred to the nearest male relative--or nearest relative if no
adult male relative is available--or to the city--or to, if pertinent,
a guardian. Thus if Aphris of Turia, by some mischance, were to fall to
Kamchak, and surely slavery, her considerable riches would be
immediately assigned to Saphrar, merchant of Turia. Moreover, to avoid
legal complications and free the assets for investment and
manipulation, the transfer is assymetrical, in the sense that the
individual, even should he somehow later recover his freedom, retains
no legal claim whatsoever on the transferred assets."
"Nomads of Gor" page 103





Taxes

"The next fellow had lied about his taxes. He would be hung, a hook
through his tongue, in a market. His properties were to be confiscated
and distributed, half to be given to members of his village and half to
the state. It was conjectured that, when he was removed from the pole,
if he were still alive, he would be more careful in his accounts."
"Explorers of Gor" page 231





Punishment of Free Man

"I gathered, from the blinding and the mark on his forehead, that the
man had once offended a slaver, a man of power in the city."
"Assassin of Gor" page 31