4 Mag Class - ANALYTIC PERSPECTIVE ON GOREAN LAWS

Magistrate Class 4
ANALYTIC PERSPECTIVE ON GOREAN LAWS

The laws of the city extends no further than its walls. (Outlaws of Gor, page 50). Once you step outside the walls of your city, the city laws no longer apply and the city can not protect you. Many cities will claim sovereignty over the lands surrounding their city, They will try to enforce their will upon the surrounding terrain. But that is only as effective as the strength of the city. There are a few exceptions to this. such as a banner keep that is located outside the city. In those establishment. The laws of the governing cities are in force.
There are two primary court systems in the cities of Gor. that of the civil government and that of the Initiate Caste. The areas of their jurisdiction are sometimes vague though the Initiates claim supreme authority in all matters. The amount of actual involvement of the Initiates in each city will vary depending on the Caste's power in that specific city. They obviously have a stronger hold in some areas than in others. For the most part, they will definitely claim jurisdiction in any religious related matter. They will ignore petty matters for they feel are beneath their worry. On Gor white is associated with impartiality and justice. That is part of the justification of the Caste colors of the Initiates.
Gorean Society Civil Law
"There is a saying on Gor that the laws of a city extends no further than its walls" Outlaws of Gor page 50
Goeran Civil law, as above quote notes, is entirely up to the governing body of each city, village, territory or other social or political unit. There are of course many similarities between the laws of various cities, and it is more often in the finer nuances that they will differ. Certainly, one would expect that theft, murder, betrayal of one's homestone or destruction of other people's property, for example, are subject to one form or another of the most severe punishments that given area has determined appropriate. Beyond the obvious, though, there are numerous legal issues which are mentioned throughout the travels of Tarl Cabot, war times specifically identified as the law of a given city, and other times simply referred to as the law which is common to "many" cities or "most Gorean cities"

The laws of a a city of will state not only the rules it citizens must abide by, but also the treatment reserved to visitors, from setting times by which all visitors must exit the city to issuing a form of permit for visiting to simply letting folks move about freely. War and conflict naturally call for tighter control of a cities gates. while during peacefully times entry to a city might be more peacefully for trade.
All messengers of various types usually easily identified by wearing a golden slash on their helmets. Visiting dignitaries or ambassadors, even those of enemy cites are allowed to entry the cities with immunity. although there are certainly examples where this protection rule was dismissed without much scruple for to enter a city without permission or without satisfactory reason is tantamount to a capital crime, and the punishment is usally a swift and brutal implement. The Gorean suspicious of a stranger, particularly in the vicinity of his native wall. Pikes on the walls of a gorean cities are usually surmounted with the remains of unwelcome guests. The gorean word for stranger and enemy are the same
The Laws There is a saying on Gor that the laws of the city extend no further than its walls. Outlaw of Gor page 50
BUILDING A CITY

Civil construction is something in which slaves my not take part. This law is mentioned as a reader witnesses the rebuilding of Ko-Ro-BA but stated to be universal enough that only one city is known to have made exception to it.
"I knew that only those who were free would be permitted to make a city. Doubtless there were many slaves in Ko-Ro_ba but they would be allowed only to serve those who raised the walls and towers. Not one stone could be placed in either way or tower by a man or woman who was not Free, the only city I know of on Gor which was built by the labor of slaves, beneath the lash of Masters, is Port Kar which lies in the delta of the Vosk. Assassin of Gor Page 60
ACQUIRING AND MAINTAINING CITIZENSHIP

Goreans , although born into a caste are not born citizens of a city. The right to citizenship is accompanied by a pledge to the Homestone which is first taken in the course of the coming of age ceremony and then renewed annually. It is also mentioned that young Goreans must perform this ceremony upon reaching the age of majority or risk being expelled from the city.
"Young men and women of the city, when coming of age, participate in a ceremony which involves the swearing of oaths and the sharing of bread , fire and salt. In this ceremony the Home Stone of the icty is held by each young person and kissed. Only then are the laurel wreath and the mantle of citizenship conferred." Slave girl of Gor. Page 394
" When ones does not have a Home Stone, it is possible to become citizen/citizend of a town/city by being permitted in a public ceremony to kiss the Home Stone of the town/city." Mercenaries of Gor Page 265
LEGAL REGISTRIES- THE RIGHT TO A NAME?

"Some clue, then, as 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
MAPS, KEYS, FORGERY AND FRAUD

"Lastly, it might be , mentioned that it is a capital offense for a locksmith, normally a member of the Metal Workers, to make an unauthorized copy of a key, either ot keep for himself or for another. Assassin of Gor , chapter 5
It is illegal in many cities, incidentally to takes maps of the city out of the city. More than one fellow, too, has put himself in the quarries or on the bench of a galley for having been caught with such a map in his possession." Magicians of Gor chapter 22
CAMPANIONSHIP CONTRACTION, RENEWAL AND DISSOLUTION

Although not always done in legal fashion, these provided for one way or another in most cities, the usual rule being that companionships are contracted for life and do require yearly renewal. Note that Gorean Women do not change their names when they become companioned.
" There is no marriage as we know it on Gor, but there is the institution of the Free Companionship, which is the nearest correspondent. Surprisingly enough, a woman who is brought from her parents, for tarns, or gold, is regarded as a Free Companion, even though she may not have been consulted in the transaction. More commendable, a Free Women may herself, of her own free will, agree to be such a companion. And it is not unusual for a Master to free one of His slaves girls in order that she may share the full privileges of a Free Companionship. One may have, at a given time, an indefinite number of slaves, but only one Free Companion. Such relationships are not entered into lightly, and they are normally sundered only by death. Occasionally the Gorean, like his brothers in our world, perhaps even more frequently, learns the meaning of love." Outlaw of Gor page 54
"I looked at the board angrily. It was true that the companionship, not renewed, had been dissolved in the eyes of Gorean law. It was further true that, had it not been so, the companionship would have been terminated abruptly when one or the other of the pledged companions fells slave." Hunter of Gor page 19
ODDS AND ENDS
" A man who refuses to practice his livelihood or strove to the alter status without the consent of the Council of the High Castes was by definition, an Outlaw and subject to impalement." Tarnsmen of Gor page 45-46
In most Gorean cities it is illegal ot offer an unbranded woman in a public sale. This is presumably in deference to the delicacy and sensibilities of Free Women. The brand draws a cataclysmic gulf between the Gorean Free Woman, secure in her arrogance, beauty and caste rights, and the stripped, nameless, rightless slaves, suitably vended as a mere lovely beasts they are in the flesh markets of this primitive, gorgeous world. Unbranded women, of course may be sold privately, for example, as fresh captures to slavers or, say, to men who have speculated that they might find them of interest. Savages of Gor, Chapter 7
The theft of a Home Stone is punishable by extreme torture followed by death in boiling oil. It may be the most heinous crime that exists on Gor. But, if it also considered the greatest of glories to steal a enemy's Home stone.
Assassins, bearing the mark of the black dagger on their forehead, are permitted entrance into a city without interference.
Thievery is illegal and harshly punished. The first offense is punished by an ear notching. For the second offense, the punishment depends on the sex of the offender. Males are punished by loss of their left hand and both feet. Females are punished by enslavement.
Shaving or slicing off metal from any coin is considered to be theft and fraud. This debases the value of the coin.
To claim land outside of a city for your own, you must place a yellow stake of clemency into the ground during the morning. You must wait and defend the land until sunset. At that time then, the land becomes Yours an d you may lay your Home stone there.
Patents and copyrights are available in a city but their power extends only as far as the city walls.
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
ENSLAVEMENT
Other than being an actual common sentence, enslavement, , especially the enslavement of a women, is legally determined by a number of situations which do not tie into the usual criminal sentencing. The institutions of capture, voluntary submission.
"The women cried in misery. To enter the circle, if one is a females, by the laws of Torvaldsland, to be 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. How so ever she enters the circle, voluntarily or by force, free or secured, she emerges from it, by the laws of Torvaldsland, as a bonds maid." Marauders of Gor 44-46
"I recalled hearing now, in the house, of "capture rights:, respected in law. I had originally though 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... (as a slave) 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, or 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 had consolidated his hold on me, for example, kept me for even a night. I could, actually in the gorean law, be counted as a runaway slave, from him, even though he did not technically own me yet, and punished accordingly.. strictures of this sort, of course do not apply to free persons, such as Free women. A free women is entitled to try to escape her 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 law as any other slave. After the slave has been in the possession of the thief or captor for one week, she counts as being legally his." Dancers of Gor 95-96
"One aspect of the law which is typically Gorean and not likely comparable to any laws with which the reader is familiar would be the crime of a slave behavior and its consequence for the women who commits it. On various levels, certain types of behavior have been identified as slave-like and hence a free women found quilty of such would be sentenced to slavery. These crimes are extremely varied and it does seem that cities in general tend to be more restrictive in theses matters. It would also seem that the higher the woman's status, the less she is permitted to demonstrate behaviors which might be even remotely seen as slave-like. The principle he has alluded to pertain to conduct in a free women which it takes a sufficient to warrant her reduction to slavery. The most common application of the principle occurs in areas such as fraud and theft. Other applications may occur, for example, in cases of indecency and vagrancy. Prostitution, rare on Gor because of female slaves, is another case. The women are taken, enslaved, cleaned up and controlled, Indulgence in sensuous dance is another case. Sensuous dance is almost always performed by slaves on Gor. A free woman who performs such dancing publicly is almost begging for a collar. Renegades of Gor 372
"Then he jerked away the veil of state from my features. I, though a free woman had been face-stripped before free men. My face was as bare to them as though, I might be a slave. Face-stripping a free woman, against her will, can be a serious crime on Gor. ON the other hand, Corcyrus had now fallen. Her woman thusly, now at the feet of her conquerors, would be little better than a slave. Any fate could now be inflicted on them that the conquerors might wish, including making them actual slaves." Kajira of Gor 107
"In some cities an unveiled free woman is susceptible to being taken into custody by guardsmen, veiled , by force if necessary, and publicly conducted back to her home... Repeated offenses in such a city usually resulted in the enslavement of the female." Players of Gor 125
"If and when a free women should utter this, in the Gorean culture, of course this sort of thing is very significant. Indeed, in some cities such things as kneeling before a man, or addressing him as Master effects legal imbondment on the female, being interpreted as a gesture of submission" Players of Gor 139

Any free woman who voluntarily couches with another's slave, or readies herself to do so becomes the slave of that slave's Master. By such an act, the couching with or the reading herself to couch with a slave, as though she might be a girl of the slave's Master. , thrown to the slave, she shows herself no more than a slave , and in this act, in law becomes a slave." Magician of Gor page 303
ENSLAVEMNT AND CASTE

In most cities, its regarded, incidentally as a criminal offense to enslave one of the Caste of players. A similar decree in most cities sands, against the enslavement of one who is of the caste of Musicians." Beasts of Gor 44
" The musicians were free. Musicians on Gor, that is, members of the castes of musicians, are seldom if ever enslaved. Their immunity from bondage, or practical immunity from bondage is a matter of custom. Kajira of Gor chapter 28
POST ENSLAVEMENT LOGISTICS

There is, in the case of enslavement, an instant annulment of status, the caste membersip, citizenship and any other right or claim the enslaved individual may have had prior to enslavement. Assets are subject to any whatever succession law is in place and their disposal is immediate and irreversible. Caste right, the right to a name, or clan and citizen ship rights do not revert when t he individual is freed. should this occur.
"It occurred to me, suddenly that following Gorean civil 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 the nearest relative if no adult male relative is available or to the city or to, if pertinent a guardian.
Moreover to avoid legal complications and free the assets for investment and manipulation, the transfer is asymmentrical, in the sense that the individual even should he should somehow later recover his freedom, retains no legal claim whatsoever on the transferred assets." Nomands of Gor. page 103
"They had declared themselves slave, The slave herself, or course, once declaration has been made, cannot be revoked. That would be impossible for she is then only a slave. The slave can be freed only by the one who owns her, only by the one who is at time her Master or, if is should be the case, her Mistress" Explorers of Gor 409
Hard labor: (fields, mines, galleys and other work chains)

"We also passed pens of males slaves. these, usually criminals and debtors, or prisoners taken in wars, then enslaved, are commonly sold cheaply and used for heavy labor." Explorers of Gor chapter one
There is of course also the fact that the conditions on these work chains are quite often so hard that only the very strongest manage to survive them. Sentencing is petty criminal to a few weeks of hard labor might not make sense if the sentence is in effect the equivalent of a death sentence.
The Mines
The most famous of mines would be course be the Tharnan silver mines, but the reader finds mentions of other cities where mines are important source of income as well as reference to gold, copy , other metals, minerals and gems of all sorts which would behave to be extracted before they can be transformed.
The Brine Pits

Another version of the mines would be the sentence to the brine and salt of Klima, at the ends of the Tahari. Working the salt mines of Klima is in itself an achievement as we are told that most who are sentenced to these pits do not make the journey to reach them. The march to Klima is known and spoken of as a sentence of its own.

"in the pits: he said "you pump water through underground deposits, to wash salt, with the water, to the surface, and repump again the same water. Men die at the pumps, in the heat. Others, the carriers, in the brine, must fill their yoke buckets with the erupted sludge and carry it from the pits to the drying tables; others, must gather the salt and mold it into cylinders." He smiled " sometimes men kill one another for the lighter assignments." Tribesmen of Gor page 7
The Canal of Bila Huruma

The project of a Ubar, to dig a canal though the swamp and jungle to untie two lakes, the canal of Bila Huruma is where most those who resisted the conqueror will be found. It is also where most the male slaves available in the Schendi region are purchased for. There is reference in the Explorers of Gor, to the shortage or near absence of male slaves in the entire region as all available manpower was sent digging.
The galleys

A sentence of choice in most port towns and cities where ships need human motors.
Work Chains of War

The digging of trenches , the setting up of palisades and other construction work required by war re often described as done by both slave and prisoners. Similar chains exist for various purposes, related or not the business of war or the rebuilding of structures destroyed by war. beyond the walls were Pa-Kur's lines of investment, set forth with all the skills of Gor's most experienced siege engineers. Some hundreds of yards from the wall, just beyond crossbows range, a gigantic ditch was being dug by thousands of siege slaves and prisoners. When completed, it would be fifty or sixty feet wide, and seventy or eighty feet deep. In the back of the ditch slaves where piling up the earth which had been removed from the ditch and packing and hardening into a rampart." Tarnsmen of Gor..
The Labor of Pleasure (work chains for Women)
The Penal Brothel

"If found guilty in the court of the arsenal, the male thief would be sentenced for a week to a year, to hard labor in the arsenal or on the wharves, the female thief would be sentenced to service, for a week to a year, in the straw-strewn cell in one of Port Kar's penal brothels. They are chained by the left ankle to a ring, their customers often bring them bits of meat, or fruit. Few thieves of Port Kar have not served time, depending on their sex, either in the arsenal or on the wharves, or in the brothels." Hunters of Gor. chapter 22
The Baths

Similar to the penal brothers in that a women is expected to serve the pleasure of men even though she is, at the time, a Free women. What is perhaps of note in the sentence is to the baths, is the mention that those sent there habitually end up enslaved once their lesson is learned. This of course would follow the premise that the sentence to slavery, for women is not necessarily so much a punishment as it is a nudge towards what Goreans consider to be the natural order.

"sometimes in certain cities, free women, found quilty of crimes, are sentenced to the baths, to serve there as bath girls, subject to the disciplines of such. and after a given time there, after it is thought they have learned their lessons, and of those of the baths, they are commonly routinely enslaved and sold out to the city. Renegades of Gor Page 59
Debtors Sluts

A less formal or less official form of paybacks are the debtors sluts the reader encountered in the warn torn country sides of gor. Free women working as tavern wenches to repay an innkeepers the cost of their lodging and feed, or other accumulated debts. Again as odd as it may seem, these women are not looked at as slaves nor wear collars, their social status remains that of a Free woman
Corporal Punishment

Aside from the usual beatings and whippings one might expect from type of world which gor is. there are some numerous forms of corporal punishments used in the various areas and culture of the counter-earth, most of them having a clear link to the offense for which the criminal is sentenced.
Ear Notching

The notching of an ear is mentioned as the first penalty applied to those who are caught thieving. I would appear that his way or marking thieves is fairly universal at least among city-state structures.

"Ear notching is the first penalty for a convicted thief in most Gorean Cities, whether male or female. the second offense by a male is punished with the removal of his left hand, the third is the removal of the right. The penalty for women is for her second offense if she is convicted is to be reduced to slavery." Hunters of Gor chapter 2
Hamstringing

The severing of the hamstring is yet another fairly often mentioned forms of extreme corporal punishment. Obviously the person whose hamstrings are cut does not have a chance at recovery and hence can be effectively seen as serving a life sentence.

"The subject is, however, not without resources, he can though it requires strength and it is awkward and painful drag himself about by the hands." Hunters of Gor.

whippings, beatings, penalty brandings, caging, and of course the threat to remove a limb or one's tongue, although mentioned as common types of punishments for minor crimes.. all those methods are frequently used to punish slaves. A slave is not entitled to the justice of the Free
"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
Banishment and Outlawry

The removal of ones right to claim citizenship is often considered worse than a sentence to the death. IN the gorean world, one's city, tribe or cultural background is as much a part of who they are as their caste or trade. The fact that banishment remove the right to claim both caste and home makes the sentence one of the harshest which can be imposed on any man. The outlaw is not only instantly without caste and expelled from the city walls, he is also unwelcome and in fact subject to impalement in most cities.
Execution

The line between a sentence of execution and a sentence of corporal punishment is often difficult to draw. In may cases, the torture does lead to death although it is somehow believed that an element of chance for survival is present, slim as it may be. The purpose of these sentences seem to fall into two very different types, this first being that the crime deserves a painful death and the other, on the contrary, is meant to offer a chance of survival, a test of sorts, often of the type that only the very best might survive.
"The bosk is said to be the Mother of the Wagon Peoples and they reverence it as such. The man who kills one foolishly is strangled in thongs and suffocated in the hide of animal is slew, if, for any reason, the man should kill a bosk cow with unborn young he is staked out, alive and in the path of the herd and the march of the wagon people takes it way over Him.' Nomads of Gor chapter one.
"chain them and hang them in iron collars at the Inn said a fellow... sometimes a man last two or three days in this fashion. "chain them on the boards" cried another. That is a similar from of punishment. In it the victim is fastened by collars and shackles on structures of paralleled, upright boards, vertical platforms, in effect mounted on posts. These structures are most common in harbor cities near the wharves." Renegades of Gor page 14-15
Impalement

One of the most spoken about forms of executions, this method is mentioned used in the disposing of high dignitaries of a conquered city as well as for the simple slaying of a slave. In any case for which impalement is used.
"Impale Him? said Marlenus The tarnsmen began to unlock their shackles, that I might be implied freely on a lance. perhaps so that my struggles might provide a more interesting spectacle to the on lookers. Tarnsman of Gor page 157

While the corporate and marketing aspects of slave management are covered by merchant law, city laws will also cover, in many cases, the management of human property as it comes to public allowances, (i.e things may or may not do._ though certain things are clearly stated as law, many times rules are mentioned along texts of gor pages that can be viewed as law for the slaves but are in fact no written laws so much as understood rules of expect behavior. One needs to remember that in the context of Gorean slavery, slaves are not citizens, have no rights and that to the slave, the Master's world is law
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 a 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 197
In the eyes of Gorean Law a slave is an animal. You have no name in your own right. You may be collared and leashed. You may be bough and sold, whipped, treated as a Master pleases, disposed of as he sees fit. You have no rights whatsoever. Legally you have no more status then a tarsk or vulo. Legally literally you are an animal Explorers of Gor 316
Various passages which mention slave laws will usually either speak in very general terms, use the word law or refer to an act as being illegal rather than simply mention it to be forbidden. It is also more common to find laws pertaining to enslavement and disposal of slaves then to slave behavior, since essentially, no matter what a slave may be told she can or cannot do, such requirements are subject to change without notice depending on as little as a whim,: again, a simple effect to the absence of status or rights.
A male slave can be slain for touching a Free Women. Kajira of Gor page 144.
"Forgive me , Masters!" she wept. "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 her part can be a capital offense. Magician of Gor
Slaves were not permitted to import instruction to a Free man, since it would place him in their debt, and nothing is owed to a slave. Tarnsmen of gor page 46
In many places or simply by their Master's word, most slaves may not handle legal documents, money or weapons and certainly attempt to using a weapon to harm a free person would be considered a capital offense. When one is a slave, strikes a Free person the penalty is not infrequently death by impalement. Assassin 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.
Many Master., I said do not permit a slave to so much as touch money. To be sure, they might let her carry coins in an errand capsule, or and errand sack, tied about her neck, instructions to a vendor perhaps also contains within it, her hands bracelet behind her.
Renegades of Gor page 122
It has been argued that slaves had no right upon the Kaissa board. One might note also, in passing that the slaves are not permitted to play Kaissa. it is for the Free individuals. Beasts of Gor page 44
A Gorean slave girl in the presence of a Free man or woman always kneels, unless excused from doing so. A gorean slave, incidentally, always addresses Free men as Master, and all free women as Mistress. Captive of Gor page 73.
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 the 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 chapter 12
The absolute truth must be spoken to Gorean Master. It is forbidden for a girl to hide her feelings. Captive of Gor page 346
I looked down upon her. " You are a wanton slave." I said. She looked up at me laughing. " A girl in a collar is not permitted inhibitions." she said. It was true a slave girl must reveal their s exual nature, totally. Do they not do so they are beaten. Marauders of Gor page 278
The free women , often fears to feel. The slave, on the other hand, fears not to feel, for she may then, in all likelihood be punished. The same frigidity which may be accounted a virtue among Free women, figuring in their vanity competitions, how well they can resist men, is commonly among slaves an occasion for the imposition of severe discipline. It can even constitutes a capital offense. The degraded slave has little choice but to yield well. Savages of Gor
"I will not yield to them." wept the girl, " Then you will be killed." said the women. The girl gasped, shrinking back in the chains. "I could pretend to yield" she whispered. "that is the crime of false yielding." said the mother. "It is easy to detect, by infallible physiological signs. It is punishable by death. Mercenaries of Gor Chapter 16.
A girl with pierced ears is, of course, either a slave or a former slave. If she is a former slave her papers of manumission had best be in perfect order. More than one freed women, because of pierced ears, has found herself again on the block
Fee men do not take it lightly that a Kajira would dare to don the garments of a Free Women, this is regarded as an extremely serious offense, fit to be followed by terrible punishments, it can be worth the life of the one to do so also. Slave Girl of Gor page 120
This is my first owner's 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 120
It is a very serious "cause for punishment" on the part of the slave to conceal or deny her statue. Normally, of courses there is very little danger of this sort of thing occurring, as she is usually collared, and branded and usually, is clad in distinctive manner. Renegades of Gor page 376

Any free man may discipline an insolent or errant slave. I said. even one is the least be 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 prefect discipline under which Gorean slaves is kept is maintained and guaranteed even when they are not within the direct preview of their Masters or their appointed agents. Players of Gor page 235
The discipline of a slave may be attended 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
Slaves are considered property, on the slave level as animals. Their owner may do anything they wish to them without repercussion. An owner may even kills his own slave.
Slaves my not own nothing including their name. Even though they may use goods, they do not own them.
In any legal proceedings, the testimony of slaves may be taken by torture. This is solely in the discretion of the courts.
The property of one who becomes a slave is transferred to the nearest male relative or nearest relative if no male relative exists, or to the city or guardian. Even if a slave is later freed, the property can not be recovered.
Is slave's owner dies, his slave passes to his heirs, or if he has no heirs to the state.
Capture rights pertain to all property, including slaves. Active possession of a slave is regarded as crucial by the law. A slave must fully serve anyone who possesses her, even a thief. If the slave runs away from the thief, she is considered to be a runaway. Free women are permitted t to escape from a captor as long as they have not yet been enslaved. The point of this law is to keep slaves in bondage and to make men bold. The institution of capture is honored by all cities, provided the female captured are those of an enemy.
If a lost, stolen or runaway slave is taken by another person, the original owner has one week to regain his property before legal title is passed to the new Master. The slave remains the property of the original Master for only that one week if he does not regain possession.
For a slave to runaway from her Owner is a serious offense. For the first offense the penalty is commonly a severe beating. But she is only allowed that single mistake. The penalty for a second offense is usually hamstringing.
A Free Woman can sell herself into slavery. But, once it is completed she cannot revoke it.
If a Free women submits to be a slave to a specific man, and that man refuses the offer, she still shall become a slave, subject to capture by the first person to collar her.
Slaves are not permitted outside the cities gates unless accompanied by a Free person.
It is a capital offense for a slave to claim a Caste.
A child born of a slave, becomes a slave and belongs to the slaves Owner.
Any Free women who couches with another's slave or even prepares to do so, becomes a slave herself and becomes the slave of the male slave's Master. This is known as the couching law.
A father who cannot pay his debts, his daughter becomes a slave of the state. She will be put up for sale at public auction. The proceeds of her sale will be used to equitable satisfy the creditors.
A Free women that cannot pay her debts will be enslaved. Under the redemption laws, a man can pay her debts, and thus will now own her. if no one redeems her within a certain period, she will be sold to slavers.
Earth girls do not have a Home stone, so there are no legalities that prevent their capture and enslavement.
The principle of " conduct indicating suitability for the collar" deals with conduct by a Free woman sufficient to warrant her reduction to slavery. It is commonly applied to fraud, theft, indigence, vagrancy, prostitution, and indulgence in sensuous dance. Other behaviors which might trigger the principles includes attempting to spy on Masters and slaves, disguising oneself as a slave, garbing oneself as a slave even in the supposed secrecy of one's own compartment, baring to much flesh, lingering about slave shelves and markets, and even exhibiting an interest for fascination with bondage. The principle deals with overt behavior and not thoughts.
It is illegal to sell a slave that is not your own without the Owner's permission. the penalty varies according to the sex of the seller. For a man it is exile. For a female it is enslavement