Laws of Thay

Murder

In every city, village, farm, and military installation in Thay, it is illegal to take the life of another person. The legal definition of "person" is any human or demihuman who is not a slave. The standards on what constitutes a human or demihuman vary across Thay, per local laws.

Theft

Theft is the willful seizing of the property of another person through subterfuge, coercion, extortion, intimidation, or fraudulent representation.

Destruction of Property

Destruction of property is the rendering unusable, valueless, or tarnished the property of another person. If a slave is killed by one other than his owner, this is the offense.

Treason

Treason is defined as:

• The betrayal of trust of the citizens and rulers of Thay (usually the trading of secrets)
• The opposition or hindrance of the will of the citizens and rulers of Thay (including subversion and sedition)
• Any crime committed against a government official

A trial consists of the accusation of guilt, the case for innocence and guilt, and the judgment by a judicial authority. Since all Tharchions, Autharchs, and Thayan Knights are judicial authorities, they may conduct on-the-spot trials, complete with execution of justice. In most cases, however, a criminal must be brought to trial by law enforcement, standing accused by his peers or superiors, and allowed to argue in his defense before a magistrate.

Trials in Thay tend to be very swift, with magistrates not wishing to allow too much bandying of words on either side. The typical process is as follows:

• The crime allegedly occurs
• The crime is reported
• The criminal is apprehended
  • Failing this, the criminal can be tried without habeas corpus after 48 hours of search.
• The criminal is brought before the court
• The audience is assembled. Depending on the importance of the criminal and the case, citizens, relatives, and associates of both the accuser and the criminal will be summoned and compelled to observe the case. It is considered a Thayan's civic duty to attend trials.
• The accuser and the criminal are allowed to form juries
  • A Thayan jury is a counsel for either defense or prosecution. They do not have the authority to pass judgment or determine punishment. They are essentially members of the audience who declare a side, gaining the ability to argue their case, but not to vote on the outcome.
• The accuser reads the charges against the criminal
  • The accuser can be any citizen or law enforcement official. It is usually the victim of a crime, or the law enforcer who apprehended the criminal.
• The magistrate mediates an argument between the juries. During this time, per the discretion of the magistrate, the accuser and the criminal are allowed to address one another, the juries, and the audience without interruption for a proscribed period of time. This is a common courtesy, not a right in any major jurisdictions.
  • Commonly, during the argument, members of the jury on the losing side will resign, either shunning the criminal or expressing no confidence in the accuser. Once this is done, they revert to audience members, and cannot rejoin either jury. This act carries great social meaning, and often enhances the punishment (or acquittal) of the criminal. Rare are cases where neither jury relents.
  • It is customary for the accused, the criminal, and all jury members to stand throughout the trial, while the magistrate and audience may sit. The language used in courts of law reflects this; the typical address to accuser and criminal during the assembly of juries is "who will stand for you?". Many cases end with the last of a criminal's jury shunning him, leading the accuser or magistrate to invariably say "you stand alone".
• The magistrate passes judgment. Depending on local laws, the circumstances of the crime, and many other factors, he or she may consult the audience, allowing them to vote on the verdict. All verdicts are either "guilty" or "innocent", and are rendered with prejudice, meaning the same case cannot be brought up again, for it has already been judged.
  • There is no concept of "higher courts" in Thay. There are no appeals for judgment, guilty or innocent, and even Tharchions and Zulkirs cannot directly overturn a verdict. Only by trying the magistrate himself can one invalidate a verdict, and this is a very rare and special case.
• The magistrate pronounces the punishment. This process, too, may involve the audience, depending on laws, customs, and circumstance. In every case of every crime, multiple factors are considered, namely:
  • The intent of the criminal
  • The impact on society
  • The appropriateness of the law
  • In the latter case, a law that is normally considered just and fair in most circumstances is recognized to be potentially unjust in unusual circumstances. In other words, sometimes the law shouldn't apply to a given case. This is the most common defense in trials against Red Wizards, when indeed they do occur, and often results in minimum punishment.
• The punishment, whether it be censure, fines, imprisonment, exile, torture, or death, is to be carried out immediately.
  • This is traditionally the time for the criminal to beg for mercy. This process is entirely subjective, and a reviled criminal of no importance to society is likely to be utterly ignored, mocked, or even have his punishment worsened in the attempt. However, the appeal for mercy is often heard, and mercy even granted in most cases. Essentially, one trades one's dignity and perhaps even freedom and possessions for leniency.
  • Another common tactic is to beg the court for a reprieve, a delay in the execution of justice sufficient for the criminal to beg clemency of an official or perhaps even a Zulkir. This reprieve, an indefinite suspension of punishment, is sometimes even used for the criminal to build a case for the insolvency of the court itself.
  • At any time before the punishment is carried out, the magistrate, the Tharchion, a Zulkir, or any other official of sufficient rank and privelege may grant clemency to the criminal. This does not overturn their verdict, and the public is usually made aware of this, but it does annul the punishment. Any offer of clemency is a sufferance on behalf of he who made the offer; that means that, at any time, it can be rescinded, and justice carried out. Officials grant clemency very often to important or influential people, since it essentially nets them a servant for life.

Thay being a land known for its bureaucracy, there are innumerable laws in every province and territory which conform to no standard, whether national or universal, other than the whim of their creator. Some important local laws are listed below.

Tharch of Eltabbar

The Law of Dissolution

This law forbids the association of The Tharchioness with the House of Flass, including and especially the use of her family name. While this law does not forbid the use of her legal name, Dmitra Uoumdolphin, this name is rarely used by those outside her complete confidence.

The Law of Laborer Security

This law designates all disowned slaves the property of the Tharch of Eltabbar. It states that the act of killing or grievously wounding one's own slave is an implicit severance of ownership. Effectively, it makes killing one's own slave the same crime as killing someone else's. Interestingly, it also denotes any slave not properly registered and taxed the property of the Tharch; while this is a standard slavery law in Thay, the wording of the law suggests that any children born to a slave are automatically the property of the Tharch unless remuneration is made to the government. This is contrary to most other slavery laws of the land.