Laws Over Slaves

SLAVES
.



Testimony



"The judge gave a signal and the long handle of the rack, fitting through a rectangular hole in the axle, moved again.
The girl winced, but she did not cry out.
"Look again carefully upon the accused," said Ibn Saran. I saw her eyes upon me. "Was it he who struck Suleiman Pasha?"
"It was he," she said.
"Are you absolutely certain?" he asked.
"Yes," she said.
"It is enough," said the judge. He gave a signal. The handle spun back. The girl's body fell into the network of knotted ropes."
"Tribesmen of Gor" page 114

"The bodies of two girls, stripped, lay on the narrow rectangle,
networks, of knotted ropes, on the racks. The hand were at their sides,
but ropes were attached to them, and fixed on the axle of the windlass,
above their heads. Both wore collars. Their ankles were roped to the
foot of the device. Her wrists, and those of the other girl, as the
long wooden handles turned, were pulled up and over her head. The
red-haired girl writhed on the cords.
At a sign from the judge the handle moved once, dropping the wooden
pawl into the ratchet notch. Her body was now tight on the rack; her
toes were pointed; her hands were high over her head, the rough rope
slipped up her wrists, prohibited from moving further by its knots and
the wide part of her hands."
"Tribesmen of Gor" page 111





Legal Status

"In the eyes of Gorean law you are an animal. You have no name in your
own right. You may be collared and leashed. You may be bought and sold,
whipped, treated as the master pleases, disposed of as he sees fit. You
have no rights whatsoever. Legally you have no more status than a tarsk
or vulo. Legally, literally, you are an animal."
"Explorers of Gor" page 316





Freedom

"The slave cannot free herself. She can be freed only by an owner. The
condition of slavery does not require the collar, or the brand, or an
anklet, bracelet or ring, or any such overt sign of bondage. Such
things, as symbolic as they are, as profoundly meaningful as they are,
and as useful as they are for marking properties, identifying masters,
and such, are not necessary to slavery. They are, in effect, though
their affixing can legally effect imbondment, ultimately, in
themselves, tokens of bondage, and are not to be confused with the
reality itself. The uncollared slave is not then a free woman but only
a slave who is not then in a collar. Similarly a slave is still a slave
even if her brand could be made to magically disappear or, if she has
been made a slave in some other way, if she has not yet been branded.
Indeed, some masters, somewhat foolishly, I think, dally in the
branding of their slaves. Indeed, some, perhaps the most foolish, do
not brand them at all. Such girls, however, when they come into the
keeping of new masters, usually discover that oversight is promptly
remedied."
"Renegades of Gor" page 273





Home Stone

"You are an Earth girl and thus stand within a general permission of
enslavement, fair beauty quarry to any Gorean male whatsoever." Earth
had no Home Stones. No legalities, thus, were contravened in capturing
them and making of them abject slave girls. "The first to capture you,
owns you," he said. "Prepare to be leashed as a slave."
"Slave Girl of Gor" page 394





Property



"Surely you are aware," said Saphrar, "that a slave cannot own property --- any more than a kaiila, a tharlarion or sleen."
"Nomads of Gor" page 132





Name

"On Gor a slave, not being legally a person, does not have a name in
his own right, just as, on earth, our domestic animals, not being
persons before the law, do not have names. That name which he has had
from birth, by which he has called himself and knows himself, that name
which is so much a part of his own conception of himself, of his own
true and most intimate identity, is suddenly gone."
"Outlaw of Gor" page 197





Slave Markets at the Fair



"Although no one may be enslaved at the fair, slaves may be bought and sold within its precincts." "Priest Kings of Gor" page 12





Slave documents

"Some female slaves, incidentally, have a pedigreed lineage going back
through several generations of slave matings, and their masters hold
the papers to prove this. It is a felony in Gorean law to forge or
falsify such papers."
"Savages of Gor" page 69

"Vart, once Publius Quintus of Ar, banished from that city, and nearly
impaled, for falsifying slave data. He had advertised a girl as a
trained pleasure slave who, as it turned out, did not even know the
eleven kisses."
"Explorers of Gor." page 36?

"And these papers," I said, "are pertinent to you. They are all in
order. I had Tolnar and Venlisius prepare them, before they left."
"Papers, Master?" he asked.
"You can read?" I asked.
"Yes, Master," he said.
"Do not call me 'Master'." I said.
"Master?" he asked.
"The papers are papers of manumission," I said. "I am no longer your master. You no longer have a master."
"Manumission," he asked.
"You are free," I told him."
"Magicians of Gor" page 460





Capture

"The fact that I now realized I was subject to theft frightened me, but
it, too, like many other things, seemed an attachment of my condition,
a simple consequence of what I was. I recalled hearing now, in the
house, of "capture rights," respected in law. I had originally thought
these rights referred to the acquisition of free women but I had later
realized they must pertain, more generally, to the acquisition of
properties in general, including slaves. I had not thought much about
such things, in a real, or practical sense, until now, now that I was
outside of the house. I tried to recall my lessons. Theft, or capture,
if you prefer, conferred rights over me. I would belong to, and must
fully serve, anyone into whose effective possession I came, even if it
had been by theft. The original master, of course, has the right to try
to recover his property, which remains technically his for a period of
one week. If I were to flee the thief, however, after he has
consolidated his hold on me, for example, kept me for even a night, I
could, actually in Gorean law, be counted as a runaway slave, from him,
even though he did not technically own me yet, and punished
accordingly. Analogies are that is not permitted to animals to
challenge the tethers on their necks, or flee the posts within which
they find themselves penned, that money must retain its value, and
buying power, regardless of who has it in hand, and so on. Strictures
of this sort, of course, do not apply to free persons, such as free
women. A free woman is entitled to try to escape a captor as best she
can, and without penalty, even after her first night in his bonds, if
she still chooses to do so. If she is enslaved, of course, then she is
subject to, and covered by, the same customs, practices and laws as any
other slave. The point of these statutes, it seems, it to keep the
slave in perfect custody, at all times, and to encourage boldness on
the part of males. After the slave had been in the possession of the
their, or captor, for one week she counts as being legally his. To be
sure, the original master may attempt to steal her back. A popular
sport with young men is trying "chain luck." This refers to the capture
of women, either free or bond, viewed as a sport. In war, of course,
women of this world, slave and free, like silver and gold, rank high as
booty."
"Dancer of Gor" page 95/6





Slave Rape

"The unauthorized rape of slave girls, without the permission of their
masters, is officially frowned on in most cities, but, too, it is as
often winked at. There are thought to be two major advantages to the
custom of permitting, and, sometimes, of even encouraging, the
practice. First, it provides a way of satisfying the sexual needs of
young men who may not yet own their own girls, and, secondly, it is
thought to provide a useful protection for free women. Free women,
incidentally, are almost never raped on Gor, unless it be perhaps a
preparatory lesson proceeding their total enslavement. There seem to be
two major reasons why free women are seldom raped on Gor. First, it is
thought that they, being free, are to be accorded the highest respect,
and, secondly, slave females are regarded as being much more desirable."
"Guardsman of Gor" Page 184





Bond-maid circle

"Go to the bond-maid circle," said Ivar Forkbeard, indicating the
circle he had drawn in the dirt. The women cried out in misery. To
enter the circle, if one is a female, is, by the laws of Torvaldsland,
to declare oneself a bond-maid. A woman, of course, need not enter the
circle of her own free will. She may, for example be thrown within it
naked and bound. Howsoever, she enters the circle, voluntarily or by
force, free or secured, she emerges from it, by the laws of
Torvaldsland, as a bond-maid. "
"Marauders of Gor" page 44/5





Brands

"Some fellows do not brand their slaves," I said. "That is stupid!" she
said. "It is also contrary to the laws of most cities," I said, "and to
merchant law, as well."
"Vagabonds of Gor" page 188





Discipline

"Any free man may discipline an insolent or errant slave,` I said,
`even one who is the least bit displeasing, even one he might merely
feel like disciplining. If she is killed, or injured, he need only pay
compensation to her master, and that only if the master can be located
within a specific amount of time and requests such compensation.` In
virtue of such customs and statutes the perfect discipline under which
Gorean slaves are kept is maintained and guaranteed even when they are
not within the direct purview of their masters or their appointed
agents."
"Players of Gor" page 235

"The discipline of a slave may be attended to by any free person,
otherwise she might do much what she wished, provided only her Master
did not learn of it. The legal principle is clear, and has been upheld
in several courts, in several cities, including Ar."
"Magicians
of Gor" page 122
"You cannot punish me!' she cried. 'You are not my masters!' 'Any free
person can punish an errant slave girl,' I said. 'Surely you do not
think that her behavior fails to be subject to supervision and
correction as soon as she is out of her Master's sight?'"
"Magicians of Gor" page 225





Touching FW



"A male slave can be slain for touching a free woman."
"Kajira of Gor" page 144





Demeaning men

"Forgive me, Masters!" she wept. "You are men! You are men! A slave
begs forgiveness!" Her concern was certainly not out of place. The
demeaning of men, whereas it is permitted to, and not unknown among,
free women, is not permitted to female slaves. Such, on their part, can
be a capital offense."
"Magicians of Gor" page 226





Failing to kneel

"Certain of these things, such as failing to kneel in the presence of a
free man, may be regarded as a capital offense on the part of a Gorean
slave girl, even if it is inadvertent. If intent is involved in such an
omission, it can be an occasion for death by torture."
"Players of Gor" page 252





Playing Kaissa

"I am a slave," she said. I cannot so much as touch the pieces of the
game without permission without risking having my hands cut off, or
being killed, no more than weapons."
"Players of Gor" page 235

Collars
"This was my first owner collar. The laws of Ar, incidentally, do not
require a similar visible token of bondage on the bodies of male
slaves, or even any distinctive type of garments."
"Kajira of Gor" page 269





Pretend to be Free Woman

"She had attempted to take advantage of the fact that she had not yet
been branded and collared. She had attempted to pass herself off as a
free woman. In many cities, such a thing is a capital offense."
"Renegades of Gor" page 389





Attacking free persons

"When one who is a slave strikes a free person the penalty is not
infrequently death by impalement, preceded by lengthy torture."
"Assassins of Gor" page 74

"A girl dares not raise a weapon against a free man. Some girls have
been slain, or had their hands cut off, for so much as touching a
weapon."
"Slave Girl of Gor" page 200



"It can be a capital offense on Gor, incidentally, for a slave to so much as touch a weapon."
"Mercenaries of Gor" page 57