As recorded by Mintar for
the JAG Trade Alliance; ratified by Thentis, Bazi and Ar.
In unity we will find
strength, in strength we will find honor, in honor we will find prosperity.
It is the purpose of this law to create a mechanism that protects the consumer and gives credibility to the Merchant Caste. It is important that the trust of the consumer population be maintained. In this regard it is expected that the Merchants shall enforce these laws upon their own Caste in an effort to maintain the flow of commerce and trade.
It is not the intent of these laws to set the prices of goods. Instead the law will focus on certifying market items for quality so that the buyers understand what they are purchasing. The price they pay is up to them. Merchants are held accountable for accurate weights/measures, documentation/certification, and an honest presentation of merchandise.
All rates of exchange are "minimum limits". Cities and Merchants are able to exceed these guidelines, but may not under-cut them. Excessive undercutting, or other blatant manipulation of the law by any Merchant or City, could result in embargo, prohibition from the Fairs, and even military action by other Cities as the integrity of Merchant Law must be upheld.
Items which are likely to be found in markets all over Gor such as cattle, precious metals, stones and slaves, will of course be easier to regulate than items more specific to a small area or specific culture. The purpose of regulation is to provide a method to judge the quality and origin of products for the buyer. It is also a way for a Merchant to display their integrity as they demonstrate their compliance. Over time Merchant Law will expand to cover more products and be more inclusive to regional specialties that may be outside of the current law.
It is hoped that the value of this effort is easily seen and embraced: strength and honor to City, Homestone and Caste.
On Gor, the position of Judge is referred to as a “Magistrate”. There are many different types of magistrates, and Merchant Magistrates are a recognized position within our society. Therefore, a City may appoint a Merchant Magistrate to rule over matters of Merchant Law. Merchant Magistrates will wear white, gold and purple to denote their Caste and Function when operating in an official capacity. A City may decide how much power to give their Magistrate, and can restrict His power by limiting His ability to make judgments in isolation. It is required by this Law that all Merchant Magistrates will be Free Men.
"Behind the wagon, in the white robes, trimmed with gold and purple, of merchant magistrates, came five men. I recognized them as judges." - Hunters of Gor
"Merchant law is the only common law that often extends among many different cities. This permits commerce to exist much more easily on Gor. There are even Merchant magistrates who administer and enforce Merchant law. These magistrates belong to the Merchant Caste and not the Scribe Caste. They wear white robes, trimmed with gold and purple.” - Luthers Gorean Essay's (#68)
"The books do not explicitly describe the duties or differences between most of these magistrate types. Magistrates do appear to be able to act as ex officio witnesses who can certify the legality of certain matters. They also appear able to act as judge and jury in certain matters as well." - Luther's Gorean Essay's (#68)
"Magistrates are seen policing wharves, inspecting work chains, recording crimes, partaking in public sentencing such as declaring enslavement in the case of the lovely Lady Tina of Lydius, but also, in clearly less white collar type tasks, on at least one occasion, in the application of a death sentence." - World of Gor
Magistrates should complete a "Public Promise Swearing" to uphold the Laws as laid by the Sardar Fairs. They therefore become Officers of the Law, and are expected to enforce it upon the Citizens of the City in an impartial manner. They are charged with inspecting goods for compliance to quality standards, investigating claims of forgery, tracking down loan defaulters as well as issuing permits and trade rights. They should certify scales, slave papers and origins of goods.
The list of current Merchant Magistrates follows:
Mintar – representing the City of Thentis
Enforcement through a
Council
Another option available to Cities is the use of a Council to sit in Judgment over matters of Merchant Law. The City may define it’s own process as to how to implement this. One recommendation is to have City Guards investigate claims of wrong-doing and make arrests if necessary. People under arrest will be given an opportunity to defend themselves before the Council and a final Judgment will be made.
At this time, Merchant Law does not define what constitutes
a crime, and what the appropriate punishment should be. It is left up to the Cities to know these
laws and to judge the situation accordingly.
When appropriate, representatives of the
All merchant scales must be calibrated at the Sardar Fair once each year. Scales that pass this certification will be given a replaceable tag with the date of calibration marked. City Magistrates will be given a list of all the Merchants who have valid scales, and the means to identify the exact set of scales which were certified. In this way, the weights of any two Merchants should match.
Rates of exchange in each City cannot be “better” than the rates set by the Merchant Caste at the Sardar Fair. Undercutting the rates set at Sardar is a serious infraction of Merchant Law. Such practice can dishonor a City and have a negative impact on the flow of trade.
* 4 Tarsk bits may be exchanged for 1 Copper Tarsk
2.5 Copper Tarsks may be exchanged for 1 Copper
40 Copper Tarns may be exchanged for 1 Silver Tarsk
100 Copper Tarsks may be exchanged for 1 Silver Tarsk
10 Silver Tarsks may be exchanged for 1 Gold
2 Gold Tarns may be exchanged for a Double Gold Tarn.
* Copper tarsk bits are not regulated on Gor, though it is common for a single copper tarsk to be divided into 8 bits. This can sometimes vary from a few as 4 to as many as 10. The members of this Trade Alliance will consider a single tarsk bit to be 1/4th of a copper tarsk. For negotiations between Alliance Members, it will therefore be assumed that a bit is one forth the weight of a standard copper tarsk.
Made in security by the metal worker caste, and decorated by Artisans, the Gorean coin is almost always more beautiful than the machine-milled, flat, uniform coins of Earth. Coins must be the correct weight and have a Jarl or City stamp to mark its origin. Coins may be of any shape, and are not intended for stacking. Coins that are less than the standard weight are called “debased coins”. Small amounts of debasing can be understood as the minting process is a hand-craft, but excessive debasing of City coin can ruin the buying power of that City. Magistrates should inspect the quality of City coin on a regular basis. The Merchant Caste has agreed that the following coins have a good reputation and bring honor to the Cities in which they are crafted:
Golden
Golden Tarn Disk of Ko-ro-ba – Devalued now that the City is in Ruin
Golden Tarn Disk of Port Kar –
Common on the Western Vosk,
Silver Tarsk of Tharna – Generally respected to be of good quality and correct weight. These are drilled to allow convenient stringing.
Merchants are bound to determine weights and measures. To this end, the standards to be used for the measuring of quantity will be defined here for clarity and consistency.
The Ah-il and Ah-ral
These measures are used in the sale and use
of cloth. The ah-il is the length from the elbow to
the tip of the middle finger on a typical Man, and the ah-ral
is ten ah-il.
The Foot and Hort
A hort is a basic unit of measurement equivalent to 1 ¼ earth inches long. The Gorean foot is 10 horts (12 ½ inches Earth measure); it's standard is a metal rod kept at the Sardar.
The Talu and the Gill
The Talu is the standard unit for the trade of liquids;
approximately 2 earth gallons. For
smaller quantities, the Gill will be used; approximately 1 earth pint. There are approximately 13 gills in a Talu.
The Tef, The
Tefa and The Huda
The Tef is basically the equivalent of a closed
fistful for an average sized
The Tefa is 6 Tefs;
equivalent to a tiny basketful. The Huda
is equal to 5 Tefa.
The Stone and the Weight
The basic unit of weight is the Stone, equivalent
to 4 Earth pounds. 10 Stones is considered a Weight (40 earth pounds).
A given tree, annually, yields between one and five Gorean
weights of fruit. A weight is some ten stone, or some forty Earth pounds.
---Tribesmen of Gor, p 37
Slaves Are Animals (Legally Speaking)
Merchant law provides the rules by which certification and pedigrees will be produced; the registering of breeds 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 the children of slaves are treated and/or handled. A child born to a slave is also 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. Slaves are bred in order to produce more slaves, to perpetuate a certain trait, or quality, much the same as other cattle.
Slavers are considered a sub-caste of the merchants. The
rules and laws which pertain to the trade of human property are hereby clearly
stated as part of merchant law. Although
cities may have their own enslavement laws, merchant law establishes a number
of criteria that must be met before a slave is legally
a piece of property. Slaves claimed due
to inadequate markings may have their previous ownership nullified. This merchant law will not define the exact
standards for slave classifications, nor will it attempt to define training
requirements. These details are left up
to the City, Slaver or Master to determine.
These classifications are instead intended for the use of the slave
trade, to give Cities a basic framework upon which to build their own
regulations, and to define general rights of Ownership. The Cities of this
“It is
important to understand the separation of jurisdiction when it comes to areas
which may 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.” – World of Gor
Criteria for slavery
For the sake of the slave trade, and to establish rightful ownership, it has become necessary to standardize some basic slave classifications. These are legal classifications only. There is no attempt to define standards of training and only basic requirements of certification are used. Once a slave is collared, they legally become property and their Owner enjoys a certain amount of legal protection from theft or damage.
Classifications of
slaves
Recommendations
These recommendations are not legally binding, but are offered so that Owners know how to protect their property to the fullest extent of the law.
Papers of
Manumission
Freed slaves require explicit papers of manumission or they may be enslaved again without repercussion. Slaves who have been branded, or have had their ears pierced, and then later freed should definitely keep their papers handy at all times.
Slave Papers
Slave papers are not required, but if present they cannot be forged. All slaves should have papers. Slave papers may document any combination of the following information: physical description, behavior, health, markings, chain of ownership, pedigree properties if any, skills and restrictions.
"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 that she was,
say, blond. Against such fraud, needless to say, the law provides redress.
Slavers will take pains in checking 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, Ch19
It is the intent of this Merchant Law to protect the integrity and value of regional specialties. Cities that put forth a successful petition to the Merchant Magistrates will have their local goods protected. In the negotiations between Cities and the Magistrates, the phrasing and details of the protection will be finalized. Where ever possible, a standard should be applied for accurate weights and measures. Bootlegged items will therefore be subject to confiscation by Merchant Magistrates upon discovery. Certification of origin will be two-fold. First all products must carry the official markings of the appropriate City. Secondly, there will be a secret marking given to each City to use on their exports. This marking will be determined at Sardar and is subject to change for the sake of security. The Merchant Magistrates will be given the catalog of the secret markings to validate origin and identify forgery.
Black wine:
For a product to be sold or traded as “black wine”, it must
be made from beans produced by the City of
Bazi Tea:
For a product to be sold or traded as Bazian
tea, the contents must be harvested from the fields surrounding Bazi and must be packaged by officials within the City of
Ka-la-na:
For a product to be sold or traded as “ka-la-na”, it must be produced and bottled in the City of