Economics of a fantasy/old world Setting

[someguy]

The Structure of the Crown Government:

The Crown Government is made up of three bodies. The Executive, the Legislature, and the Judiciary.

The Executive branch of the government is the Prime administrative body, and is Lead by his Sovereign Majesty the King. The King is the Sovereign Lord of the Realm, it is from him that all mortal authority comes. The King reigns by the will of God, and only by his hand shale the King be cast down.

Powers of the King:

• To appoint anyone to any officer in the land.
• To expel anyone from any office in the land.
• To intact, amend, alter, and repeal law at his sole pleasure.
• Declare War and make Peace.
• Enter into a treaty and to resend such treaties.
• Enter Judgment upon any matter put before the courts.
• Supreme commander of the nations military.
• Appoint His Successor.

Cabinet of Ministers
The King is assisted by his Cabinet of Ministers. The Cabinet of Ministers are the senior most appointed executive offices in the Royal Government. The Chief of the Cabinet of Ministers is the Prime Minister.

Each Cabinet Minister is the Executive officer of a division of the Royal Administration. The Cabinet of Ministers is comprised of the Prime Minister, The Crown Treasurer, Minister of War, Minister of Guilds, Minister of Infrastructure, the Prime Magistrate, and the Master of the Order of Lyons.

The Prime Minister holds two functions. It is the Prime Ministers responsibility to keep the King apprised of the status of the Kingdom. It is also his duty to oversee the nations diplomatic representatives.

The Crown Treasurer is the executive in charge of the Crown Treasury. It is his duty to maintain the Crown Treasury, and make reports to the Prime Minister as to the status of the treasury. He also must set the Kings taxes and make sure they are collected.

The Minister of War is the executive in charge of the military. It is his responsibility to maintain the command structure, make report of the status of the military, and ensure the readiness of the military to defend the nation and its honor.

The Minister of Guilds is the executive in charge of the Charter of Guilds. It is the duty of the Minister of guilds to oversee the charter guilds of the kingdom, and make reports as to the state of the national economy to the Prime Minister.

The Minister of Infrastructure is the executive in charge of the maintenance of the Kings Roads, Bridges, Towers, Mines, Dams and Mills. He is also the executive of the Logistics corp.

The Prime Magistrate is the chief magistrate of the realm. It is his duty to oversee the system of justice within the Kingdom, including maintaining the canon of law, presiding over the highest court in the Kingdom, and overseeing the Royal Law Academy.

The Master of the Order of Lyons is the executive in charge of the Order of Lyons. It is his duty to oversee the Order of Lyons and to give reports to the prime minister as to their readiness to defend the nations interior and enforce the Kings Law.

The Legislature is the deliberative assemblies that write the canon of law. The Legislature is divided into two separate bodies, The Senate and House of Representatives.

The senate is a deliberative assembly with the Duty of writing the canon of Law. Half of the assemblymen are appointed by the King, the other half of the seats are filled by a senator appointed by each of the Provincial Governors.

Every for years the Senate elects one of their number to be the President of the senate. This officer then acts as liaison between the Senate and Cabinet of Ministers. When the King makes a decree the Prime minister brings it to the senate and the senate then articulates it and gives it proper scope, then returns the language of the decrees to the Prime Minister to present to the King for review. If the language is acceptable the King will give it his seal, if note he will strike out what he does not agree with and give instruction on its correction.

The house of Representatives is the deliberative assembly which represents the voice of the people. By tradition this assembly is made up of publicly elected member of the common people. Also by tradition the King will present all decelerations to the House for deliberation. Though their decision is not binding, the their decision does carry a great degree of weight in the the kings final decision on a Law.

Every 4 years the House of Representatives elects a Speaker whom is the Voice of the House before the King. In most cases the Speaker of the house is also appointed by the King to the Office of Prime minister.

The Judiciary is the lowest branch of government and is made up of two haves The Magistrates and the Order of Lyons.

The Magistrates are the Judges of the land and preside over the Courts of Law and Equity. It is their duty to study the Kings law and interpolate it in the courts. They also administrate and teach at the Royal Law Academy, as well as test graduates on their knowledge of the law and thus appointing them Barristers. All magistrates are appointed to their office after serving as Barristers.

The Order of Lyons are the Knights which enforce the Kings laws, defend the interior against beasts and brigands, and guard the nation boarders.

There's also a roomer floating around that there is a special detachment of Knights from the Order of Lyons operate on both sides of the boarder seeking out clandestine threats against the Kingdom.

[someguy]

CANON OF CRIMINAL LAW
No man, Nobleman, freeman, nor bondsman may be summarily charged and sentenced for a crime. All charges must be brought before a magistrate. All charges made before the court will be investigated by the court. If they are found to have merit then the accused will be placed on trial with the opportunity to present evidence in his defense.

ARSON
Definition: Setting fire to any structure without prior authentication from a crown official.
Penalty: Five lashes publicly if the replacement value of the damage is less than 1000 weights of silver. If the damages are greater than 1000 wights of silver the offender will be pressed into hard labor for up to one year. In all cases the offender must make full restitution.

ASSAULT
Definition: Putting a person in imminent fear of personal bodily harm.
Penalty: Public flogging, fines, and hard labor.

BANDITRY
Definition: The use of force to deprive persons of their property.
Penalty: Public flogging, fines, and hard labor.

BATTERY
Definition: The deliberate infliction of bodily harm on another. If the infliction of harm is mutual the crime is Disorderly conduct or potentially rioting.
Penalty: Public flogging, fines, and restitution.

BLACKMAIL
Definition: The threat of exposure of potentially embarrassing or damaging information for the purpose elicitation money or forcing the person to act in a manor favorable to the offender.
Penalty: Pubic flogging, heavy fines, restitution, and hard labor.

BLASPHEMY
Definition: The crime of spreading falsehoods regarding an Person, Business, Order, Guild or Faith.
Penalty: Public flogging, pillory, heavy fines, restitution, hard labor.

BRIBERY
Definition: The solicitation of and agreement to commit a crime in exchange for favors, goods, and/or money.
Penalty: Public flogging, pillory, heavy fines, restitution, hard labor.

BURGLARY
Definition: Unlawful entrance into a residence, place of business, government office to commit theft.
Penalty: Public flogging, fines, restitution, hard labor.

CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE
Definition: The refusal to obey an command nobleman, or irreverent behavior toward a Noblemen.
Penalty: Public Flogging, pillory, and hard labor.

DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY
Definition: The destruction of another's property through deliberate action or negligence.
Penalty: Public Flogging, pillory, Hard Labor and Restitution.

DISORDERLY CONDUCT (UNLAWFUL DUELING)
Definition: Creating a public disturbance or participating in a public disturbance. This crime is usually applied to fighting in public or engaging in a duel without registering a valid grievance with the courts.
Penalty: Public flogging, pillory, heavy fines. If some one has been injured the crime of battery may also be assessed, if some one killed this charge will be superseded by the charge of murder.

EMBEZZLEMENT
Definition: The misappropriation of funds by the person in whom the funds have been intrusted.
Penalty: Public flogging, pillory, Hard Labor, and Restitution.

EXTORTION
Definition: The act of forcing another to provide the offender with money, goods, or services through threats of violence.
Penalty: Public flogging, pillory, hard labor, and restitution.

FAILURE TO MAKE RESTITUTION
Definition: When an offender commits a crime resulting in monetary damages to the victim the offender is required to make restitution. The Crime of failure to make restitution is committed when the offender fails to make restitution, are begin making restitution by the date prescribed by the court as part of the sentencing of the offender.
Penalty: Seizure of property up to and including twice the value of the restitution. If the offender's property is insufficient to repay the principle of the restitution the offender may be pressed into hard labor. If the offender is unable to make sufficient restitution the offender may be pressed into bond to serve as bond servant to the party owed restitution.

FORGERY
Definition: The unlawful creation of documentation or coin.
Penalty: Public flogging, pillory, hard labor, and restitution.

FRAUD
Definition: The theft of money, goods or services through false promises.
Penalty: Public flogging, pillory, hard labor, and restitution.

GRAVE ROBBERY
Definition: Burglary of a grave. Either by unlawfully opening a tomb, crypt, or digging up a grave and removing items of value or the corps itself.
Penalty: Death.

ILLEGAL FIRES
Definition: Lighting a fire lit in an unauthorized furnace, forge, fireplace or iron stove.
Penalty: Public flogging, pillory, hard labor. If the illegal fire caused damage the offender will be charged with arson.

ILLEGAL MONEY CHANGE/USURY
Definition: Only a vetted counting house may engage in the business of currency exchange or issuing writs of credit. Engaging in money changing or issuing writs of credit without official vetting from the royal treasury of Crown treasury is strictly forbidden.
Penalty: Forfeiture of all deposits, forfeiture of personal goods, restitution, public flogging, pillory, hard labor.

IMPERSONATION OF A NOBLEMAN
Definition: The deliberate act of falsely representing ones self as a Nobleman of the Kingdom or purporting ones self to be a nobleman of a foreign realm.
Penalty: Public flogging, pillory, heavy fines, hard labor, forced service in the armed forces.

KIDNAPPING
Definition: The taking away of or transport of a person against their will without legal authority to do so.
Penalty: Public flogging, pillory, heavy fines, Hard Labor, Restitution.

MANSLAUGHTER
Definition: Causing the accidental death of another through negligence.
Penalty: Bound servitude to the next of kin.

MURDER
Definition: Causing the death of another through deliberate action. This included manslaughter where depraved indifference can be proved. The only defense for murder is to prove that the accused did not commit the act or that it was in the defense of ones own life, of the life of another.
Penalty: Death.

PERJURY
Definition: The willful act of swearing a false oath or affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing.
Penalty: Discretion of the Magistrate and the maters pertaining to the oath, up to and including death if the lie did or would have resulted in another's death.

POSSESSION OF ILLEGAL OF STOLEN PROPERTY
Definition: A person is guilty of this crime if they are knowingly in possession of stolen property or good obtained illegally.
Penalty: Public Flogging, pillory, hard labor, fines, forfeiture of property, and restitution.

PUBLIC DRUNKENNESS
Definition: A person that is intoxicated either by strong drink, pipe weed or other intoxicants who is found wondering the streets making a nuisance of himself.
Penalty: Placement in pillory until sober, and potentially public flogging and restitution of the drunkard caused any damage.

RAPE
Definition: Engaging in sex with a woman without her consent, who is under the age of majority, or is too intoxicate to give connect. Failure to pay a prostitute does not constitute rape, but fraud.
Penalty: The exact punishment is left up to the discretion of the magistrate.

RIOTING OR INCITING TO RIOT
Definition: This is disorderly conduct on a larger scale.
Penalty: As disorderly conduct.

ROBBERY
Definition: The act of stealing though use of force. The crime of battery becomes Robbery of the attacker also loots the beaten persona body.
Penalty: Public flogging, Pillory, hard labor, restitution.

SEDITION
Definition: Stirring up discontent against the Crown or other local authority that suggests treason, but lacks any overt acts.
Penalty: Public Flogging, imprisonment, and possible death.

THEFT
Definition: Stealing goods or money without violence. Pilfering from a market stall, pickpocketing are common examples.
Penalty: Pillory, public flogging, restitution.

TREASON/REVOLT
Definition: The criminal action to undermine that authority of the Crown of its deputies. Taking up arms against a Nobleman for any reason other than a Duel of Honor.
Penalty: Death.

TRESPASSING
Definition: Setting foot on some one else's land without permission.
Penalty: public flogging, pillory

UNLAWFUL ENSLAVEMENT
Definition: Pressing those who were not lawfully bound to you into service.
Penalty: Digression of the magistrate, usually pillory, public flogging, fines, restitution, and hard labor.

VAGRANCY
Definition: A person that cannot prove his kinship or place of residency and is found loitering in the streets after dark or sleeping in a public area.
Penalty: Cast out the city gate.

[someguy]

PENALTIES
It is the view of the King that the punishment of a crime should be more sever than the offense. Else wise crime could be preceded as equitable. As such many punishment include public beatings, hard labor and humiliation. A stand point that is highly effective.

PUBLIC FLOGGING:
The number of strips the criminal will suffer is largely left up to the Magistrate presiding over the trial. However 3 to 5 are usually assessed minor first time offenses.

PILLORY:
A form of public humiliation. The persons head, hands and feet are restrained and the person is placed on public display with a notice of the crimes he is found guilty of. By law anyone may cast spoiled fruit and vegetables at the pillory, but my not inflict injury upon them. Its also common for the local prior or other clergy to inflict intentionally long winded sermons about the folly of their ways, why they are being punished, and how to not end up here again. And should the criminal be unwise enough to interrupt the preaching he can expect a knock on the head from the brothers horsemens whip (hurts like a bugger, but doesn't violate the injury restriction).

HARD LABOR:
The sentence of hard labor is exactly what you would imaging. Hard grueling labor. Usually with no real discernible purpose as all. In many cases they will be required to move heavy rocks about from one place and pile them in another, then move them right back the next day. Or they may be assigned to dig ditches, or take the place of a team of mules and pull carts.

FINES:
The criminal must pay a sum of money to the Crown as punishment. Anyone that can not pay their fine is placed in the dungeon until bought out by some one as a man or maid servant.

RESTITUTION:
A fine paid to the victim of a crime to cover any losses they many have. This includes the cost of a healer to tend to their injuries, the replacement of lost, damaged, or destroyed property, or it may be purely punitive.

FORFEITURE OF PROPERTY:
If the person is unable to pay their fines of restitution the bailiff of the court may take goods or property of equal or greater value to satisfy the debit.

BOUND SERVITUDE:
When a person is completely destitute and unable to pay their debits with property, goods nor money, they have but one last asset which he can sell, himself and his family. He may voluntarily sell himself or his wife and children as a manservant or maidservant, or if he tries to make flight, the courts will do it for him.

[someguy]

THE KINGS TAXES

Boarder Tax:
All goods entering the kingdom are appraised at the boarder station by a vetted representative of the merchants Guild. The Trader must then pay a 1/10th tax on the value of the goods at that time. He may also sell his wares to the merchants guild on his side of the boarder and avoid the tax.

Tower Tax:
All roads take you though a tower Gate. When passing though a tower gate you must pay the road toll. For a walking man the tax is a single penny, for a single horseman its 3 pence, and for a wagon is 5 pence. Many merchant will have papers from the Merchants guild showing they have payed a flat fee to the guild to cover the tax. And any one can pay a flat fee of 2 shilling for “walking papers” that will be good for a year.

Gate Tax:
A merchant entering a city must pay a 1/10th tax on the appraised value of the goods. If the merchant has a writ from a boarder crossing they are exempt from this tax. Many merchant caravans will pay a flat fee to the merchants guild covering the gate tax.

People walking into a city are not required to pay a gate tax as they are likely here to buy.

Vender tax:
Anyone that wishes to buy goods within the Kingdom must pay 1/10th tax on the price of the goods. This is not the case when one merchant sells to another merchant so long as he has registered with the merchants guild.

The Merchants Guild in agreement with the Crown treasury has found that assessing venders tax on commerce between merchants is bad business for everyone as it artificially inflates the costs of goods, reducing the buying power of coin, slowing down commerce and their by reducing revenue. It simply hurts everyone's bottom line.

[someguy]

ROYAL SYSTEM OF WEIGHTS AND MEASUREMENTS
In the year 1432, reigning King felt that the current system of weights and measures was overly complicated and didn't fallow a logical structure. He devised a new system which was passed into law as the Royal System of Weights and Measures.

WEIGHT
The Units of measurement in the new system of measurements are based of the most commonly use measure of weight at the time, the gram. By definition the weight of the Gram was based on 20 dry grains of wheat. In the new system all measurements are based off divisions and factors of 10 of the mass of a Gramma.

LENGTH
The base measure of length was first recorded in 1432 and was set by calculating the average length of the Kings stride as he walked across the floor on a specifically brushed carpet. The length from the tip of his right foot at the start of a stride to the tip of his foot at the end of his stride was measured four times and the lengths averages. This length became the new base measurement and was named “Metra”.

AREA
Area is a function of square metras. Common measurement is the square metra, and the square kilometra.

VOLUME
The base unit of volume, the Letra, is based of 1/1000 of a cubic metra.

Unity between weight and volume.
Quite by coincidence one letra of water weighs one kilogram.

THE KINGS COINS
The Kings Coin comes in many types, but the base unit of currency is the Sterling. The Sterling is a heptagonal coin made from one gramma of pure silver. On its face is a right hand Profile view of the King, with the reverse having an image of the Crown.

[Gamerprinter]

Until Britain enforced their judicial system onto Ireland, even in the 1700's Ireland was still using its Brehon Laws, where all crimes/infractions against another is handled monetarily with no incarceration or capital punishment of any kind, and worked well for at least a 1000 years. Even British colonists who located in Ireland, under the royal order to only follow British legal codes, followed the Brehon Laws instead, until they were forced along with the rest of the Irish to British Law.

When discussing Ecomonics and Law in a fantasy old world setting, Britain is not the only resource to go by. I think a look at Brehon (Old Celtic) Laws are worth sourcing for good RPG content, especially looking at Dark Ages and Ancient settings.

GP

[someguy]

When discussing Ecomonics and Law in a fantasy old world setting, Britain is not the only resource to go by. I think a look at Brehon (Old Celtic) Laws are worth sourcing for good RPG content, especially looking at Dark Ages and Ancient settings.

GP

Your more than free to post you own judicial code, but I would hardly call "Brehon" a just code. It completely lacks eye for an eye, thus lacks justice. There is a reason the heart desires Blood be shed as the only payment for Blood unjustly shed.