Corpus Tamrielicum - The Imperial Library

[31] LEGAL BASICS
kind (or crimes of any kind) to be commited or caused to be commited. The punishment for
this crime may include a fine or incarceration, or a fine and incarceration.
Vagrancy: Any act of idleness, disorder, begging, or conduct unbecoming a person with
occupation, gold, or a home, (or occupation, gold, and a home, or occupation or gold and
home, or occupation and gold or home, or occupation and home or gold), or what a
reasonable person would consider idle, disorderly, beggarly, or unbecoming. The punishment
for this crime may include a fine or incarceration, or a fine and incarceration.
Smuggling: Any act of bringing in, taking out, teleporting, or causing to be brought in, taken
out, or teleported an object considered illegal or, if not illegal, requiring an import or export
tax which is not paid. The punishment for this crime may include a fine or incarceration, or a
fine and incarceration, and will include confiscation of the offensive or illegal object. It may
also include, but not be restricted to, execution or banishment, or execution and banishment.
High Treason: Any act against (whether directly or indirectly, or any nonaction which results
in circumstances, directly or indirectly, against) a allegiated sovereign or by a vassal to a
liege, resulting (or what a reasonable person would assume would result) in physical,
emotional, mental, or magical harm or injury in said sovereign or liege. The punishment for
this crime will be death.
Pickpocketing: Any act of stealing, taking, or, without explicit written or verbal permission
(or what a reasonable person would infer as implied permission) an item or items a person,
group of persons, or entity a reasonable person might assume to be sentient has on his, her,
its, or their own person. The punishment for this crime may include a fine or incarceration, or
a fine and incarceration.
Theft (sometimes called Larceny): Any act of stealing, taking, or, without explicit written or
verbal permission (or what a reasonable person would infer as implied permission) an item or
items from a person, group of persons, or entity a reasonable person might assume to be
sentient's place of residence, business, person, or other location a reasonable person would
assume is secured from looting. The punishment for this crime may include a fine or
incarceration, or a fine and incarceration.
These are the usual, day-to-day definitions used by legal experts (like myself), but both the
definitions and punishments may fluctuate wildly according to location and situation. In the
Imperial City, legal counsel is available by persons like myself, but the provinces have no
such system in place. Perhaps that will change in time. We can all hope so.
As a final note: the Tamriel legal system has its basis in the civilized, reasonable credo uttered
by the prophet Marukh in the first era: "All are guilty until they have proven themselves
innocent." Were truer word ever spoke?
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