Fwurg

[Serrah]

((OOC: This letter is adressed to minister Mathi-ey C'b'rton, but can be read by any Union member.))

Dear minister Mathi-ey C'b'rton,


The purpose of this letter is two-fold:

1. I accuse the Astrian Colonial Authority of negotiating in bad faith.
2. I request a ruling on the issue of a world's sovereignty to assign any representatives they see fit, and whether another Union world can declare a representative unfit to represent their world.

1. Accusation of negotiating in bad faith

Based upon the evidence I present to you, I accuse the Astrian Colonial Authority of negotiating in bad faith. As can be seen in the attached communication, I contacted the Astrian Colonial Authority to inform them of the Veolian Commonwealth's current opinion of our trade relations, and of the cancellation of an exchange of goods that has become unprofitable due to shifting economic circumstances.

In return, senator Doshima proposes that the Veolian Commonwealth maintains its unprofitable trade in exchange for a promise to trade in the future. I reply with another counter offer with explanation of our current situation. Senator Doshima informs me that the offer is rejected and that Nehket Aeka should contact him if the Veolian Commonwealth wishes to trade with the ACA -- since in both Veolian law and culture I am the same as Nehket Aeka, I ask for clarification to make sure that there is no cultural misunderstanding wherein senator Doshima is under the impression that he has not been communicating with Nehket Aeka.

Senator Doshima promptly replies with "By your own claim, you are a slave. There for you, by definition, have no power or influence of your own what so ever. Based on that I have no assurance that any agreement between us will be honoured by the Veolian Commonwealth.", clearly stating that he expects the Veolian Commonwealth to act in a dishonest fashion. He continues with "After all being a representative would require a level of equality you simply do not have as a slave.", clearly indicating that the Astrian Colonial Authority does not see a negotiation and agreement with me as holding any form of legal value.

Because senator Doshima only clarifies the position of the Astrian Colonial Authority after offering a promise of trade in the future, I accuse him of entering these negotiations in bad faith: instead of informing me immediately that the Astrian Colonial Authority places no legal value in the negotiations I carry out, he tries to bait me into agreeing to extend an unprofitable trade with a promise of trade in the future that holds no legal value from the ACA's point of view.


2. Sovereignty in the assignment of representatives

By stating "After all being a representative would require a level of equality you simply do not have as a slave." senator Doshima infringes on the right of the Veolian Commonwealth to assign an individual of their choosing to represent them in legally binding negotiations between Union members.

The Veolian Commonwealth poses that any Union members has the sovereign right to assign as representative any individual they choose, and that this choice can not be countermanded by any other Union member. Because the Union consists of a great many members, each with their own cultural and legal systems their method of assigning representatives is for them to decided, and is therefore a matter of internal politics in which other Union members have no say. As per the Positions and Titles act each world may assign a senator by their own customs, in the same reasoning, each member should have the freedom to assign any representatives by their own customs.

Furthermore, the Veolian Commonwealth poses that any agreements negotiated by duly appointed representatives should hold under the legal system of the Union, even if one party in the agreement decrees the representative of the other side unfit for any reason. If this is not the case, any agreement can be voided by a world simply by decreeing the representative of the other party or parties unfit.

We ask the Minister of Justice to provide a ruling on both of these positions of the Veolian Commonwealth, such that we know that our any agreements I negotiated with the Astrian Colonial Authority will hold up under Union law, and to ease the mind of the Astrian Colonial Authority that I have always been, and will always be, able to fully and lawfully represent the Veolian Commonwealth as its duly appointed representative until the time this appointment is retracted.


Yours sincerely,
Serrah

Attached to the message is a protected transcript of the full communication between Serrah and senator Doshima. This attachment is protected such that only the Minister of Justice can access it: [Mail] To Astrian Colonial Authority embassy: Notice of cancellation.

[Senator Mathi-ey C'b'rton of the Divine Fiefdom of Highmons]

((OOC: This message is sent to the Veolian Commonwealth only, though nations are notified that the Ministry of Justice will investigate this))

Dear Serrah,

The Ministry of Justice has received your accusation and will look into the matter.

As you base your accusation in part the Veolian legal code, we request you make available all relevant Veolian laws, legal precedents and other information related to this topic. We shall send agents to assist you in this effort.

We also request you make available any other relevant documentation, testimony or other information that may be relevant to this case.

Sincerely,

Mathi-ey C'b'rton
Minister of Justice

((OOC: I don't need extensive documents with laws, just give me the general gist of how stuff works in the Veolian Commonwealth, or refer me to any relevant wiki pages))

[Serrah]

((OOC: Sent only to the Ministry of Justice.))

Dear minister Mathi-ey C'b'rton,

As per your request I have prepared a summary of the laws in the Veolian Commonwealth dealing with slaves. As the concept is as old as the Commonwealth itself, and touches on many aspects of life in the Commonwealth, many of the Commonwealth's laws reference or incorporate the matter.


The laws on slavery contain details on the buying and selling of slaves, the rights and duties of an owner with regards to their property, and the rights and duties of the property. This includes imperial decrees prohibiting owners to put slaves on tasks that can be done more economically by droids, and a decree that the owner of a slave shall pay a large sum in taxes to the imperial coffers.

The laws also describe how one becomes a slave, and what kinds of arrangements should be in place, both for commoners and for nobles. If someone is not a slave but a prospective owner desires to have them as such, it is legally required to ask the prospective slave whether they consent to become a slave. This is not required if you buy a slave, as that person already consents to be a slave. This consent is given in the form of a ritualized signing of a consent contract.

The signing of such a consent contract must be witnessed, and the level of witnesses depends on the status of the person agreeing to be a slave. The consent of a commoners can be witnessed by any noble, though if the commoner is to become the slave of a noble, the witness must not be of the same house. Nobles must be witnessed by two other nobles, both of whom must be of different houses, and of course also of houses different from the signing and accepting house. Noble witnesses must also be of equal or higher rank than the signing party.

Veolian law further restricts the use of physical violence against slaves, careful analysis of the law should offer you some insight into what is, and what is not allowed. A certain level of physical repercussions is allowed, though this is much less than the what a noble can do to any commoner. Several strong precedents have been set, the most recent of which is the Exile of Aradi Gharis, which was picked up by the Union Central news [1]. I have referred your agents to several influential court cases with respect to this matter.

Finally, the oldest and most binding law proclaims that the slave is an extension of her owner and any action by the slave reflects on her owner. This transference of responsibility is fully encoded in law. Any action taken by the slave is interpreted as the action of her owner, and the owner is held accountable for any action committed by a slave. For example, if a slave would commit murder, her owner would be tried for murder.

For nearly all laws in the commonwealth, with the exemption of some with regards to inheritance and the laws directly dealing with the subject of slavery, slave and owner are treated as a single natural person. There is even a distinct word for this concept: 'Ghataka'. As a personal note, I have not yet found a perfect translation, though it roughly translates to something along the lines of "ingredient, constituent, agent, intermediary, and messenger".

This oldest law effectively codifies the cultural significance of all slaves in the Commonwealth. One of the fundamental uses of slaves in the Commonwealth is being present in two places at once. This extends to being able to sign contracts, enter into agreements, or have personal interaction with someone. In fact, an insult addressed at a slave is seen as an insult addressed at her owner.


Of course, all of the Commonwealth's laws and imperial decrees are publicly available, and I shall make sure your agents have the full cooperation of the veolian embassy in the retrieval of any law texts, court cases setting precedent, and imperial decrees on the matter.


Yours sincerely,
Serrah

The Veolian embassy can provide the agents of the Ministry of Justice with several hundreds of court cases setting precedent. These cases date back roughly 1200 years, and the embassy has been careful to add historical and cultural notes to numerous of the older cases to prevent misunderstandings.

The law text itself is a clear example of common law: terse and simple to read, though it seems to be written with the expectation that the one interpreting and enforcing the law is aware of the intention of the law. This also means a certain amount of cultural insight is required, and there are several datacrystals filled with explanations, interpretations and precedents linking to the sections of the law text.

The imperial decrees are a special case, as they are written as a simple command from the emperor on how things are to be, the exact implementation is then left to the nobles of the realm. The decrees are cross-linked to the body of precedents and the law text as well.

((OOC: I tried to keep it short... Unfortunately, I do not have a neat overview written up as a wiki page yet. I do, however, have multiple threads (collected for OOC reading) going back to 17; the relevant content of which is summarized above ^_^

If you wish to have more in-depth info, let me know -- I can always generate more elaborate content if requested.))