Every society has Law. Every civilised and not-so-civilised society requires basic rules in order to function and to be a society. Any society in a well-defined roleplaying game setting is not going to be any different in this respect.

Of course, the nature, complexity and depth of the local law is going to be very much dependent on the genre and world that is defined for the game. A very primitive caveman society is only going to have the most basic of rules:

"Big Chief Ug say caveman not hit other caveman!"

Whereas in the modern day; the rules are far more sophisticated (or unnecessary and pedantic, depending on your personal viewpoint).

European Council Directive 89/396/EEC states requirements for indications or marks identifying the particular batch to which a foodstuff belongs. The indication must be cleared preceded by a letter "L" unless clearly distinguished otherwise....

In a comedy setting, the rules might be ridiculous: Space Corp Directive 34124: No officer with false teeth should attempt oral sex in zero gravity. – Red Dwarf

And a fantasy or horror setting may have rules that are completely specific to the physics, magic or general theme.

"Have you heard? Archmage Traven has now banned necromancy." – Elder Scrolls: Oblivion

"THE MASQUERADE: Thou shall not reveal thy nature to those not of the Blood. Doing so shall renounce thy claims of Blood" – Vampire: the Masquerade

The one thing they all have in common is that if you break the law, whatever the law may be, then you are subject to the consequences.

A Question of Legal Principle: About This Column

This column is going to look at various ways of incorporating legal issues into your games. Perhaps you are a gamemaster looking for ideas of how to enrich a game world, or perhaps you want some ideas for dishing out believable justice to your player characters after their “Whoops, we just murdered that NPC” approach. Alternatively, perhaps your PC has been arrested for a crime committed, or falsely accused of one. This column may give you some ideas for constructing a reasonable defence.

I have been game-mastering RPGs in tabletop, LARP, play-by-post and online chat formats for ten years. After years of fascination and hobby interest with the subject of law, I am currently a law student with the aspiration of becoming a barrister (a British trial lawyer with funky robes and wigs). As such, I have applied my knowledge of the law to my games, and I love NPCing the Judge.  I have started this column as a way to share some of these ideas with others (and perhaps as a way of expanding my knowledge in such as way as to ace my law exams!)

The column will look at various law issues of all types, and I have described a few of them briefly below. As well as explaining how they work in real life in the present day, I will also offer suggestions of how they can be applied in various other genres. In some articles, I will take a particular setting, genre or era, such as the 1920s for Cthulhu, and discuss specific law issues related to that. In the 1920s example, it may be legal issues relevant to Cthulhu investigators along with some ideas of how the Deep Ones may have manipulated things behind the scenes…

The Inevitable Disclaimer

This is an article written by an aspiring lawyer, so there had to be one!

Most of my knowledge is associated only with English Law, and to a lesser extent, the law of the European Union. As such, this column is written with a definite bias towards English Law, although I will attempt to keep the issues much more generalistic than that. There are differences between English and US law, and whilst I will attempt to research them where relevant, I cannot promise (it depends on time and availability of material). If anyone wants to contribute the differences about an issue in US law, or indeed the law of any other country to the forums, then I will be very interested!

And so onwards. Here is a brief description of some legal issues and how they might be used in games. This is very brief, and I will explore these and more in much greater detail in future articles.

Criminal Law

Groups of player characters frequently find themselves involved with the law, whether as defenders of the public justice, or breakers of it. Many a PC has found themselves pursued by the local law enforcement for crimes committed or crimes for which they have been falsely accused. There are approximately 800 individual crimes defined in English Law. This column will explore a few of them.

Trusts

"This subject has everything: birth, life, greed, sex, lies, truth, conscience, bitterness, vengeance and death." -Hudson. A., Principles of Equity and Trusts

A trust is simply the act of giving money or property to another for the benefit or yourself or others, either directly, or through a will or other order. Trusts need not be defined in formal language and signed in triplicate (although it helps!). It can arise from the simply exchange of items for safe-keeping. So, if your Cthulhu investigator is given a big tome of tentacle horror for research purposes and later watches said tome being sucked away into the void, then the owner has a legal right to get upset and sue for the loss. Perhaps this is something to bear in mind when investigating the Deep Ones.

Governmental Law

The doctrine of democracy and the right of individuals to vote is well-known to us all, but what are the legal principles behind monarchies, communist regimes, dictatorships, martial rule, theocracies and other alternative types of governing institutions? If your PCs are working to bring down a corrupt government, then is there any basis in law to facilitate their efforts?

Property / Land

Before there was money and religion to cause wars, there was land. The management of local rights to the land is something that is dealt differently by every culture. These can include a feudal society where land is handed down in exchange for services done, or the capitalist society of today in which property rights are exchanged for currency, or even tribal cultures which consider the land to be free and belonging to all men and none. In all genres of RPGs, the conflict that can occur by one party intruding onto the turf of another can generate all kinds of story and adventure ideas.

Contract

A contract is a legally binding agreement between parties for services, goods and the like. Not completing your end of the contract can result in legal consequences. Did your PC consider this before deciding for moralistic reasons to let the starving beggars raid the caravan you were protecting? If there was a contract then there may be legal repercussions…

Torts

A tort is a case of wrong-doing, such as negligence, trespass or defamation. These are the famous damages cases, leading to a so-called "compensation culture" of today. Although a fairly modern phenomenon, this type of law can still apply to any setting or genre, both in a serious and comedy fashion. Picture a dungeon lord suing (or otherwise harassing) the adventurers for trespass into his domain...

And that's it for now. Next time we will take an in-depth look at that oldest of crimes – murder.