Precter, King and Lord of the land, and all of its peoples and creatures, and by the grace of Our Lady Siamorphe, and with full reverence to the glories of her Name, does extend to the abbots, earls, barons, justiciars, foresters, sheriffs, stewards, servants, and to all his bailiffs and faithful subjects, greeting.

 

Know this decree, by his great authority, regarding the conduct of those within his lands, be they citizen or slave.

 

I. Concerning the King and those representing his name:

1. All titles, ranks, and other customs of address, to which every man in his station is entitled by the gods, shall be owed such which those customs require in both letters and in speech, and at any gathering of the people.

2. All appointments made by the King shall be attended by the vill to which his division extends, and at the discretion of the King.

3. Any such appointment, whether they be a Lord or other representative of the Crown, whose bearing the king may deem unfit for service, may have their titles suspended, or revoked, with their resulting vacancy filled anew, at the discretion of the King as above.

4. Any such appointment may, by his authority, appoint himself those lesser officers and clerks which his duties demand.

5. Any Lord or other representative of the Crown shall be amerced only by his peers, in proportion to the degree of any offence.

6. All taxes, fees, debts, reliefs, and chattels, which are levied by the Crown, shall be collected as the Crown's prudence determines their expence and seizure, and to the prudence of any appointment they may entrust with this purpose.

7. All punishments and remuneration, which any lesser subject of the King, be they villein or freeman, shall incur against a member of the Crown or Peerage, shall be exacted to the pleasure of the wronged.

 

II. Laws Protecting the rights of All Citizens of the Realm:

1. All freemen born within the boundaries of any vill of the King, are born his subjects to be citizens of his lands, and to be afforded his protections as such.

2. The protections of the King include defense from attack, theft, abduction, or otherwise undue harm to their persons or property.

3. Any appointment, in whose authority such writs are accorded, may assign writs of passage or of dwelling, and to such merchants and other migrants of enterprise which apply to the wealth and benefit of the King's realm.

4. The king and any appointment of the King may strip from a freeman his citizenship, whether by birth or by writ, for offenses committed by such a citizen as merit their imprisonment, exile, or debts.

5. Such persons as described, who have been judged by their conduct unfavorable to the realms, may never attain citizenship by birth or by writ.

 

III. Concerning villeins of the realm

1. All in the realms called villeins, or considered as such by slavery, imprisonment, or indentured servitude, shall at all times have visible marks of ownership, whether by binds, dress, or embellishment of the skin.

2. All in the realms called villeins shall at earliest prudence be given writs of slavery by the nearest guild; villeins who's master is found without such writs or in the absence of a substitute, may be found forfeit of their master's ownership. This writ may be maintained at the guild.

3. All villeins in the realm are to be considered property of the realm, and fruits of their labor shall be the fruit of the King. Any master of a villein, as such, claims ownership only at the pleasure of the King. 

 

IV. Concerning criminals, exiles, debtors, and prisoners of war

1. All in the realms called criminal shall be those found guilty of a charge of serious grievance levied upon them by a citizen of the realm, and who neglect, by wit or by will, to carry out their lawful sentence.

2. All in the realms called exile shall be those found guilty of a charge which prudence demands removing their person from the realm, at the discretion of such officers representing an appointment of the King or the King himself.

3. All in the realms called debtors shall be those ruled upon examination by such officials described above to be grievously in arrears of their debts to the King, to a member of the peerage, or to his master.

4. All in the realms called prisoners of war shall be those claimed as spoils among any defeated party, which campaigns against the King and his realm, whether they be man or savage, by banner or by banditry.

5. Any Prisoner of War deemed worthy of the rank afforded them by their own lands, may be spared indignity and permitted to conduct affairs as necessary to the management of their duties so long as they remain a captive of the realm, and for all of their person and effects to remain beholden to the mercy and scrutiny of the Crown.

6. Any described above, at the discretion of an official of the realm to whom such authority belongs, upon being sentenced to stockades, forfeits any protections whatsoever, from whatever citizenry assemble to punish them.

 

V. Concerning crimes against the realm.

1. Any trivial offense against a freeman beneath the peerage, incurred by theft or destruction of his property, shall incur to the aggrieved a full remuneration of those damages, either by a return or substitution of the missing stock, or equivalent value in wealth, and with fees paid to the Barony and to the aggrieved.

2. Any trivial offense against a member of the peerage or crown, incurred by theft or destruction of his property, shall incur a full remuneration as described above, along with services rendered by labour, at the discretion of an appointed officer.

3. Public lewdness and indignity shall be forbidden, and to the Barony and offended parties will be owed fines to be levied by an appointed officer, against the instigator. If such a display be composed only of villeins, the most immediate master shall bear the fines incurred.

4. Any perpetrator of vandalism shall be indentured and sold, with the benefits of their sale owed to the injured party.

5. Any assault against a person, or public disruption by violence, shall see the instigator placed in the public stocks. Serious injury to the aggrieved parties shall result in a sentence of enslavement for the instigator, and with the proceeds of their sale as property submitted to the injured parties.

6. Any who resists a lawful arrest of their person, by dissent or by force, shall be called criminal to the full extent of their sentence, and punished according to the severity of their crime. A successful escape of such a criminal, when concluded with capture by the law or by bounty, shall result in the criminal's enslavement, or for lesser offenses, time in the public stocks.

7. Any perpetrator of arson shall be considered hostile to the realm, and called criminal. Their sentence shall be a minimum of a day in prison, with indentured servitude at the discretion of an appointed official.

8. Any individual found using a citizen or slave for their own sexual satisfaction, without the other individual's consent, shall be sentenced at the discretion of an appointed official, to torture, imprisonment, public stocks, enslavement, or exile, depending upon the dignity of the injured party.

9. Any discovered to bear false witness against another party shall be punished according to the crime which they reported.

10. Any who abducts or enslaves a citizen of the realm shall be sentenced to humiliation by public attention, a day in prison, and exile, and the injured party shall be freed.

11. Any suspected of murder or of necromancy and other Dark Magicks, shall be held and questioned at the pleasure of an official appointed to discover the true nature of the crime, and any found guilty shall be sentenced to enslavement, public humiliation and exile, or a forfeiture of their life.

12. Should conspiracy against the vill, barony, or realm be suspected, the full power and authority of the king may be used in investigating the nature of the crime, and those found guilty shall be sentenced as perpetrators of murder against the peerage.

13. Any crime committed by a freeman or villein beneath the peerage, wherein a member of the peerage is among the injured, shall be sentenced for the full possible severity which the crime permits.

14. Any member of the peerage found in guilt, may be exempted from the punishments above, and shall be considered for punishment according to the dignity of their station and to its preservation.

15. Any injured party in the above, wherein blood is spilt, but no appointed official has the means with which to pronounce guilt, despite the injury being well established, may exact revenge upon the offending party, in the manner of the injury incurred against them or their interests.

 

VI. Concerning Marriage and Inheritance

1. The laws here decreed shall govern inheritance and marriage for all citizens of the realm.

2. No bastard may bear the name of their family unless they shall be recognized by the Barony for such a status as befits a, or by marriage.

3. No half-breed may bear a family name, except by marriage.

4. In the order of succession, the heir shall be the oldest of male heirs of age, born in wedlock, followed by the next oldest, and so on, to the youngest.

5. Exhausting all male heirs, or in their absence, the order of succession shall permit female heirs of age, born in wedlock in the same order, followed by the legal spouse of the deceased.

6. Following these, succession falls to the male siblings of the deceased, in the same order as male heirs, and followed again by female siblings in the same order.

7. If all potential heirs, as descendants, spouse, and siblings, are in absence or unfit, succession falls to the siblings of the deceased's parents in the same manner above.

8. Following these are male heirs born out of wedlock, and in the same order as male heirs born legitimately, and following those, female heirs in the same order. The last of these in succession shall be any half-breeds attendant to the family in any order, and again by their sex and age in the same manner.

9. No half-breed may retain the name of their family in marriage, regardless of sex. The spouse of a half-breed and their line is, at his pleasure, entitled to all inheritance of the less dignified spouse, and any child of the pure-blooded, may be rendered legitimate by the will alone of their parent, if ever succession may beg an heir.

10. Most importantly, those without the blood of man may not inherit the wealth or goods of the blood of man, least the longest lived races come to rule the lands of men.