User:Kermit/Sandbox/RepublicLaw

The Republic of Biesel is dual jurisdictional and based on civil law, relying on statutes and exhaustive legal codes. It is divided into public law (administrative and constitutional law, affecting the government) and judicial/private law (civil and criminal law, affecting individuals and private entities). Each jurisdiction of the Republic’s legal system has its own courts and order of the judiciary. A nonadversarial/inquisitorial system for analysing evidence in court is generally used. It is one of few Republic institutions that is purely public, however the megacorporations still find a way to get their claws stuck into it.

Federal law is applied to the entirety of the Republic and is enforced by both the federal government and local governments — there are no parallel local legal systems with their own courts. As such, most first instance and second instance courts and the enforcement of most crimes and civil disputes is executed by local states, whether its federal or local law. Where matters reach higher courts, are of great significance, or related to certain federal matters (eg. space crime, immigration into the Republic, constitutional), then the law may be executed directly by the federal government. Local governments are free to impose local laws or, where federal law is vague, impose their own interpretation of a federal law, however federal law is superior and expected to be enforced. Where no local government exists, such as in small spacefaring communities, customary law is often used to fill in the gaps of federal law.

Defects in the Republic’s legal system are present and often quite glaring for those looking from outside of the Republic. Corruption among public and judicial officials has always been present and facilitated by the megacorporations. Despite the Republic’s commitment to the equality and inclusion of non-humans, the legal system often fails to treat them equally. The Phoron Scarcity and its effects on the Republic have seen the courts swamped with cases — not helping courts such as those in Mendell City that were already over capacity — with not enough judges to see to all the hearings. In recent times, since the election of President Torvald, the law has also been applied with a double standard, with the administration under Torvald often unchallenged in the courts.

NOTE: While Republic of Biesel law applies to the SCCV Horizon (by virtue of it being registered to the Republic of Biesel), it is not enforced by the Horizon’s Security Department (see the Corporate Regulations instead). HOWEVER, it is the responsibility of the Captain (or Command in the absence of) to ensure the SCCV Horizon is not placed in legal jeopardy by breaking Republic law (which can result in CCIA staff team action if reported or significant).

The Constitution and Sources of Law

The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Biesel is the supreme source of law in the Republic. It was ratified in late 2454 after a long process in the Republic’s early years, involving early government representatives, public and megacorporate consultation, and finally a referendum held in early 2454. Only one amendment has been signed since its creation; the First Amendment in 2458 laid out the provisions for synthetic ownership and granting equal citizenship to free IPCs, which resulted in the Solarian Blockade of 2458.

The Republic’s Constitution, despite its mission to promote inclusion and the basic rights and dignity for all, has often been criticised for its clunky handling of aliens, with definitions that best apply to humans and human-likes (ie. skrell, tajara, unathi) and which struggle to be applied to the more alien species (ie. vaurca, diona, IPCs). For example, the use of ‘individual’, ‘person’, or ‘adult’ has always been difficult to apply to diona, and conventionally only apply to gestalt diona, with the actions of single nymphs not treated as that as a constitutionally-protected person. For vaurca, ‘adult’, ‘mature’, ‘sapient’, or ‘person’ tends only to apply to Unbound — this saw, in 2466, the Council of State not deeming the Reform Bill depriving the Bound vaurca of the voting in any and all elections as unconstitutional. For IPCs, the Constitution has only formalised the systemic issue of positronic indentured servitude, whereby many rights are conveyed only after becoming free from an owner.

Sources of Law

In order of hierarchy, the following are used as primary legal sources:

• Constitutional law
• Interstellar treaties and inter-Republic treaties
• Statutes
• Legal codes
• Government regulations

In lower courts, secondary sources can be factored in and provide additional context, but are not always taken into account:

• Case law and judicial precedence.
• Government guidance and instructions.
• Contracts.
• Customary law (in the case of permanent space stations/other habitats with populations >1,000)
• Legal academic material

Highlighted Areas of Law

Drug Law

See: Drug Law

Weapon Law

The Republic of Biesel has somewhat liberal weapons laws. The Constitution does outline a citizen’s right to own firearms and, in the event of the falling of the Republic, overthrow a succeeding government to re-install the Republic — often dubbed the ‘in case of Solarian invasion militia clause’. Firearms licensing is handled primarily at a local level, and all firearms must be purchased from registered local gun dealers and be registered with the local administration.

Licensing

To obtain an occupational firearms permit, such as those issued to police officers, military personnel, and security officers, incl. non-citizens:

• You do not need to be a citizen of the Republic of Biesel.
• You must be 18-years-old (adjusted to age of maturity per species) to use a duty-issued firearm.
• You must pass a basic background check.
• You must pass a basic psychological evaluation by a physician.
• You must pass a short digital computer exam on firearms safety provided by the local firearms licensing body, typically paid for by the employer.
• You must have proof of employment where you have a duty to use an issued firearm.

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To obtain a general firearms license for personal ownership of most weapons:

• You must be a citizen of the Republic of Biesel.
• You must be 21-years-old (19 for unathi and tajara) to purchase or own a firearm.
• You must pass a thorough background check and police interview. Citizens with anti-corporate or anti-Republic backgrounds, even if minor, or who have any history of felonies will fail this check.
• You must pass a basic psychological evaluation by a physician.
• You must pass a short digital computer exam on firearms safety provided by the local firearms licensing body and typically costing 50电.

Owned IPCs need only a datapack on firearms safety and handling uploaded, whereas Free IPCs must go through the same process as organics sans any age requirements. In the case of vaurca, they must be Unbound. In the case of diona, they must be a gestalt of six or more nymphs where the youngest nymph cannot be under 3 years of age.

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Weapon Prohibitions

Not all blades, firearms and munitions are created equal and some cannot be purchased, owned, or used in certain ways:

• Longarms cannot be open-carried outside of rural areas or in space.
• Disguised blades (eg. cane swords) are always illegal. Blades can only be concealed if folded.
• In the case of ballistic firearms: large-capacity magazines over 20 rounds are prohibited.
• In the case of laser firearms: millisecond capacitor pulses (or ‘pulse lasers’) are prohibited.
• In the case of plasma firearms: higher phoron concentration or extreme temperature plasma cartridges are prohibited, limiting the destructive power of plasma weaponry.
• In the case of electromagnetic firearms: a limit on coils/barrel length is enforced, limiting extreme penetrative power. Most commercial electromagnetic munitions are weighted, decreasing velocity and thus effect.
• Exceptions are made for antique firearms and their munitions for home display on application.

Privacy Law

The Constitution enshrines every citizen's right to privacy, and that the home is inviolable. As such, citizens of the Republic can enjoy protections against the disclosure of confidential information concerning them without authorisation, protections against private material (eg. finances, medical, bodily) concerning the individual being publicised, and the right to have a private life.

A magistrate-signed warrant is required to infringe upon privacy, be it to search a person or home as part of ordinary criminal proceedings, or up to acoustically surveilling a citizen’s home or remotely accessing any devices therein, should a security agency have reason to suspect a threat to national security or life. There have been concerns throughout the Republic’s small history that the right to privacy is merely a formality, as these security agencies have been liberal in their surveillance of anyone suspected to be anti-corporate, especially with the Biesel Security Services Bureau having its close ties with NanoTrasen Corporation, and with most household devices having been manufactured by NanoTrasen and capable of remote access. Meanwhile, the right to privacy is strongly enforced for higher level megacorporate employees or public officials, where attempts to expose corruption have resulted in a journalist being met with criminal prosecution for privacy violations.

Since President Torvald’s election in 2466, this seems to resolving, with the Biesel Security Services Bureau generally being held more accountable when it comes to the surveilling of Republic citizens, with household devices being more rigorously protected against backdoor access and direct surveillance measures, and with some lower-stake breaches of privacy in the name of uncovering corruption deemed valid. Despite this, nothing have been done about the Biesel Intelligence Service’s surveillance of citizens (which is additionally against their mandate), and corruption at a federal level continues to be suppressed.

One large issue in Privacy Law is that of IPC tagging. Positronic rights activists have long campaigned that the tagging of IPCs — particularly free IPC citizens — is a violation of privacy laws, with information about a positronic’s life appropriated to a federal database. Once again, as a matter largely involving the megacorporations, the Republic’s judiciary have avoided and delayed issues that have arisen out of this for years and years, with many disputes either settled out of court or drag out ever move to financially encumber the claimant.

Rights During Criminal Proceedings

• Parties have a right to a lawyer, and in some cases are required to have one. In the absence of the accused (eg. failing to appear at court), they may be entirely represented at court by a lawyer.
• The accused is presumed innocent until a statement by the court says otherwise.
• The accused has a right to a speed trial.
• The accused must be informed of their right to silence and right against self-incrimination prior to police interviews.
• The accused has no right to a jury or public trial. While most trials are public, private trials are done for sensitive cases. Instead of a jury, there are instead lay judges for some hearings (and always felony hearings).
• Only evidence legally obtained is admissible in trial. Covertly obtained evidence (eg. covert recordings) are admissable.

Ordinary Courts

The ordinary courts hear civil and criminal law, of which there are various types based on the severity of a crime or civil matter.

The minor jurisdiction courts are operated by the local governments of the Republic of Biesel. They are Correctional Courts which hear summary offences (eg. space traffic violations, criminal damage) and Civil Courts which hear minor civil cases (eg. breaches of contact) — many of these minor court handlings are conducted over holocalls to save time, due to the strain on the court system. Criminal Courts hear misdemeanors and less serious felonies (eg. assault, extranet crime). These three courts are generally held within the same court building, known as a Judicial Court, which has a chamber for each of these three first instance courts. They are tried by a single judge for summary offences, expedited misdemeanor arrests, and small claims, otherwise three judges (of which 2 are lay judges).

Specialised civil courts are also present, such as labour courts and family courts. Commercial Courts and Labour Courts are notable examples, that handle many matters related to local corporations and transtellar megacorporations, and disputes between employer and employee. Judges and other judicial staff who specialise in these courts strangely find themselves struggling to access many megacorporate schemes that many within the Republic rely upon, and so the backlogging of civil cases is felt incredibly hard here, due to both the lack of judges and the reluctance for judicial reform in regards to megacorporate handling. Conversely, judges who tend to rule in favour of megacorporations (often with financial incentive) find these megacorporate schemes more convenient to access which, as a result, sees most commercial and labour court cases rule in favour of the megacorporations and against victims or smaller corporations.

The major jurisdiction courts are also operated by the local governments. They include High Civil Courts, which hears civil matters (typically where damages exceed 10,000电), and which are tried by a panel of three judges (of which 1 is a lay judge), and High Criminal Courts, which hear felonies (eg. murder involving parties of different Republic inhabited bodies), and which are tried by a panel of three judges (of which one is a lay judge). Litigants are legally required to be represented by an attorney in this jurisdiction.

Judicial Court of Appeals are the appellate courts at this level. They are tried by three judges.

Each major inhabited body of the Republic has a Grand Judicial Court that handles more extreme civil matters (eg. significant cases involving megacorporations) and felonies (eg. terrorism). They are tried by a panel of five justices, or three justices where a case is deemed frivolous or meritless. They are operated by the federal government.

The Supreme Court of Cassation is the highest court of last resort, concerning both civil and criminal law, and ensures that interpretation of criminal and civil law is uniform across the Republic. They are tried by a panel of seven justices, or five where a case is deemed frivolous or meritless. It is operated by the federal government and is located in District 1 of Mendell City, Biesel.

Today, the ordinary courts are heavily bogged down by the steadily increasing crime rates in the Republic of Biesel. In the criminal courts, the surge in smuggling and phoron blackmarket participation has seen other federal cases lowered in priority, sitting without hearing for long durations. In the civil courts, cases of all varieties have long burdened them, with breach of contracts concerning phoron sales or injury as a result of haphazard phoronic infrastructure replacement being some of the few trends causing surges in civil proceedings.

Reality Court Shows:

Easing the strain on the judicial courts is an abundance of Ingi Usang Entertainment and Idris Incorporated arbitration-based court shows, whereby persons involved dismiss their ‘proper’ case in court and instead have it heard in a televised, mock-court by an adjudicator or panel of adjudicators. Adjudicators and mock-courts are not bound by any judicial codes, procedures or conduct, and their power is enforced only through contracts signed by all involved parties. Appearance fees and other financial incentives are provided to both parties on the show, and so — in the Republic’s current economy — many are quick to surrender the chance of legitimate justice for the potential to earn quick money over a civil dispute or beating a misdemeanor charge. Of course, with no proper judicial procedure and no legal recourse after the fact, the parties are entirely at the whim of the show’s adjudicator and how they are portrayed in the media — in the case of Ingi Usang Entertainment, they disproportionately favour an alien party and seek to portray how great the Republic is for alien immigrants; in the case of Idris Incorporated, humans and whoever the show’s sponsors wish have the upper hand.

Megacorporate Quasi Immunity:

Public prosecutors have significant leeway in whether to take a criminal proceeding to court, and the determination of ‘public good’ allows personal interpretation that the average prosecutor includes to mean ‘not angering the megacorporations’. As such, many criminal proceedings affecting senior megacorporate employees die here. C-suite level megacorporate employees are almost always immune from criminal proceedings, as the public prosecution office is incredibly unlikely to continue a criminal proceeding to court; for other senior megacorporate personnel (eg. regional directors, space vessel captains), the burden of evidence is higher, if the blame cannot be shifted to a fall-person (of which there are always many). Since the election of President Torvald though, this has appeared to begin to change, with cases levied against megacorporations and their employees notably surging as public prosecutors feel appropriately backed up by the state to pursue such — though it is nonetheless never safe to poke a bear.

Administrative Courts

The administrative courts are intended to hold the public administrations — both local government and federal government — liable by reviewing executive orders and decisions, ensure the validity of Republic and regional elections, and resolve legal disputes between administrative bodies. Any citizen, association or company can bring action before an administrative court.

In the present day, administrative courts are heavily back-logged as a result of rampant financial crime and corruption due to the megacorporations' hold over the Republic’s government and organisations — particularly NanoTrasen Corporation’s. It can take years for a hearing to be held, and so media attention is quick to forget about mundane instances of public misconduct, and many sensitive trials are held privately or have their reports written almost cryptographically. It typically takes a very major or publicised failure for a case to be dealt with swiftly and transparently.

Administrative Court are the first instance courts in administrative law and are operated by local governments (or federal, in the case of immigration courts). Administrative Courts of Appeal are the second instance courts which hear appeals from decisions in administrative courts. They are presided over by one judge. Most administrative tribunals and courts of appeals are conducted digitally and are almost entirely written, with infrequent holocalls to resolve more challenging or intricate concerns — the exception are immigration courts, which tend to be held in person.

Specialised courts with specialist magistrates may be held for specific public fields, such as Finance Courts (investigating misuse of funds, embezzlement) and social courts (investigating public education and health organisations). These have their own appellate courts too, such as Immigration Courts of Appeal.

Each major inhabited body of the Republic has a Grand Administrative Courts, operated by the federal government, which handles the most significant of disputes regarding the public administration, and plays a role in advising local governments on federal legal compliance and ensuring the validity of local government elections. Where matters of constitutionality appear, they are forwarded straight to the Grand Administrative Courts — particularly significant constitutional matters are sent further up to the Council of State.

The Council of State is the highest court of last resort in administrative and constitutional law and the legal advisor of the executive branch of the Republic of Biesel. It is the body that determines if the administrative decisions or orders of the President and other senior civil servants are valid, constitutional, and lawful, as such it is a powerful check on the executive branch. The Council of State is located in District 1 of Mendell City, Biesel.

Magistrates, Lay Judges, and the Non-adversarial System

In the Republic’s civil law system, magistrate refers to most judicial officers (unlike many common law-based systems, where it specifically denotes a [sometimes volunteer] judge presiding over summary offences in lower courts only), and includes judges of all courts (justices, at Grand Courts and those above), public prosecutors, investigative magistrates, and policymaking magistrates. Magistrates hold law degrees (available at most universities) and have received magistrature post-grad. education (available at schools of magistrature), either obtained separately or in a combined course.

Magistrates are appointed by the Judicial Appointments Council — an independent judicial body separated from the government — which posts vacancies and recruits for first and second instance courts; vacancies for the Grand Courts, the Council of State and Supreme Court of Cassation are filled on recommendation of the Judicial Appointments Council, though requires the assent of the President and the Senate. Magistrates are irremovable, with the exception of public prosecutors due to their differing roles. Whether a result of coincidence or malice, there has yet to be an appointment of vaurcae or dionae to the position of magistrate — some speculate this rooted in a concern of impartiality in regards to vaurca, and then in regards to diona, a question as to whether a gestalt counts as one judge or the tally of its nymphs. Humans and skrell continue to make up the majority of magistrates around the Republic.

Unlike an adversarial system, where the defence and prosecution submit and debate evidence to a neutral ‘umpire’-like judge, Republic law follows a non-adversarial/inquisitorial system. In most cases, even beyond criminal courts, this means trial judges are often active participants in the hearing and may ask questions to the defendant, lawyers, or public prosecutor, and order pieces of evidence to be examined should explanations during the hearing be insufficient.

Principal judges are senior trial magistrates who lead a panel of judges and who generally also have an administrative role at their court building.

Lay judges are trial judges who appear in lower courts, however they are not magistrates with formal law and magistrature education, and are instead lay people who have either volunteered or been summoned by mandate to sit on a panel of judges — they often receive some instruction on law, relevant to the case they are expected to sit on. The practise has garnered some controversy from outside of the Republic, as a measure of bias from a court may influence who is approved to volunteer lay judges and thus dispense justice but, more significantly, megacorporations have been known to offer discreet incentives to their senior employees to infrequently volunteer as a lay judge (especially when a megacorporation anticipates a case involving them), seeding a disproportionate amount of strongly pro-megacorporate lay judges into courts around the Republic. Those with known anti-NanoTrasen Corporation views in particular also tend to ‘fall out of’ a court’s system, resulting in them being passed for mandatory lay judge service.

In the High Criminal Courts, all Grand Courts, and both the Council of State and Supreme Court of Cassation, investigative magistrate or investigative judges are often employed to conduct a thorough investigation of the case and any submitted evidence, and work with the public prosecutor and police who are required to disclose all available evidence to the investigative magistrate. Though they work closely with the prosecution and police, their role is not to prosecute a defendant, but to gather facts and evidence. They have wide powers to interview witnesses, suspects and experts, order searches for subsequent investigations, and other actions that may bring to surface both incriminating or exculpatory evidence for entering into the trial (which the investigative judge does not sit on). Generally, investigative magistrates are only involved at the request of the prosecutor or victim of a severe felony. Investigative magistrates are often the subject of glamourised holovision dramas and movies in the Republic.

In-game Enforcement

NOTE: This concerns certain Republic of Biesel-associated Ghost Roles (eg. TCAF ghost role arrests during canon expeditions in Republic territory) and special event happenings (eg. police arrests made on event rounds set on Biesel). Please see disclaimer at top of the page.

The Biesel_Security_Services_Bureau|Biesel Security Services Bureau is generally responsible for law enforcement in the absence of local security services. As such, its jurisdiction covers spacevessels and spacestations that are registered with the Republic of Biesel or one of its states, which includes the SCCV Horizon. The BSSB entrusts Republic-registered vessels to self-police when it comes to summary and less severe misdemeanors, and so only severe misdemeanors and felonies will see the BSSB involved with its own investigation. Generally, this means Amber corporate regulations may see Central Command forward the incident to the BSSB for additional punitive action; Red corporate regulations will, where not sensitive to the company, always be forwarded to the BSSB for additional punitive action (or the review of any summary judgements approved by Command, such as Marooning or Cyborgification).

The Republic Astroforce is responsible for law enforcement in the space territories of the Republic of Biesel. The Astroforce is empowered to conduct inspections and detentions of space vessels and their crew should one be identified committing an offence when it comes to the actions of a whole space vessel. This is rather rare, as military vessels are at a premium in the Astroforce, however particularly reckless spacevessel operation may see it deemed necessary by a military patrol. If the Astroforce is stopping the SCCV Horizon, either one of the two parties has made a very significant (probably non-canon) mistake, as it would take a lot for the Republic to intervene with the Stellar Corporate Conglomerate’s pride vessel (Remember to ahelp first!).

Police Procedure

The following procedure is simplified for in-game use and must be followed if an SCCV Horizon crew member or the ship as a whole is accused of a crime and an arrest is deemed necessary.

For summary offences and misdemeanors occurring on a Republic of Biesel inhabited body, a verbal warning can be issued if an arrest is not deemed fit. If the accused is a Horizon head of staff member, a verbal warning must be given on the first instance of a misdemeanor.

For spacecraft offences in Republic of Biesel’s space territories, the person responsible is always the Captain or the supervising head of staff of the Bridge. Two verbal warnings must be given and, if the SCCV Horizon has not desisted, physical intervention should only be made if: 1) at least 1 member of SCCV Horizon command is willing to assist in a law enforcement action; 2) a Republic citizen’s life is threatened. Only the vessel's commanding officer can commit to this action, and must be aware that their career is on the line if the offence isn't enough to warrant such drastic action (Remember to ahelp first!).

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Determining Grounds for Expedited Arrest:

• The police must first establish if a crime was in fact committed and identify a suspect.
• If the suspect is a Horizon head of staff or the whole ship, a sufficient authority (eg. a Republic Astroforce Astrarch, a Police Department Chief) must determine if criminal proceedings continue. This does not apply to felonies, which can always be pursued.
• For misdemeanors and felonies, if crime was witnessed by an officer, visibly in possession of tools or paraphernalia used to commit the crime (eg. a weapon, illegal substances) or otherwise caught red handed by an officer, an ‘expedited arrest’ can be made and a search & seizure conducted without a warrant signed by a judge. In the case of felonies, a sufficient authority (eg. a Republic Astroforce Astrarch, a Police Department Chief) can make the informed decision to order an expedited arrest regardless of other criteria.
• Where an expedited arrest cannot be made, officers cannot make an arrest without a warrant and must rely on freely-given statements, confessions, or consensual searches.
• For summary offences, if it was witnessed by an officer, a warning should be immediately issued. Repeat summary offences can be treated as a misdemeanor.

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No Grounds for Expedited Arrest:

• In the case of misdemeanors and felonies, a report should be filed on the forum, naming the persons involved and what statements/evidence was collected, and why an expedited arrest could not be made. If deemed necessary, maybe a warrant for a BSSB investigation will be signed.

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Making an Expedited Arrest:

• If the conditions for an expedited arrest are met and one is made, the suspect can be arrested.
• The suspect needs only be informed of the time of their arrest and what their charge is.
• The suspect can be moved to the police station/brig.
• Any contraband and stolen items are removed.
• The suspect is locked in a cell and must be provided with a Brochure of Rights that is present in all Republic detention facilities. In the case of summary offences, the detaining officer should start a timer to keep track of detention time.
• The SCCV Horizon should be informed of the arrest and an attempt to return corporate property not confiscated as part of a crime should be made.
• While detained, the suspect is entitled to: a radio for the purpose of making post-arrest arrangements, essential health care, clean clothing and accommodation, food and water, immediate release in the event of hazardous detention conditions.
• Only if interviewed, the suspect must be vocally informed of their right to silence and right to a lawyer. If this is not done, statements gained from an interview may not be eligible evidence in a court and the detaining officer is liable for negligence.

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Post-arrest:

• For summary offences, the detainee must arrange payment of a fine (either with cash on person, a captain or XO electronically transferring funds, or another Horizon crew member paying). On payment, they can be allowed to go or transported to the Horizon. If unable to be fined, they must be let go after the maximum detention time (timer starts once placed in cell). A police report can be filed on the forum but declare the matter resolved.
• For misdemeanors, the detainee must be held until both payment of a fine and until a bail fee (simplified to 5x the cost of the fine) is additionally provided. On payment of both, they can be allowed to go or be transported to the Horizon, however should receive notice that the criminal proceeding may be continued at court. A police report should be filed on the forum and CCIA is eligible to start an investigation.
• For felonies, there is no recourse and the detainee remains in the cell for the rest of the round. A police report must be filed on the forum and both the CCIA and BSSB will launch an investigation.

Simplified Crimes

These are simplified crimes that can be enforced by a Republic of Biesel enforcement group, and can be abstracted as both federal laws or local laws.

Misdemeanors can be resolved with verbal warnings on the first instance.

Summary Offences

Offence	Description / Examples	Fine / Maximum Detention
Traffic Offences (Planetary)	Ignoring road signs and traffic lights. Curb mounting.	85电 / 5 Minutes
Battery	Unwanted physical contact. Repeated psionic interaction without consent.	100电 / 10 Minutes
Discrimination	Discrimination by personal characteristics (eg. species)	150电 / 10 Minutes
Disorderly Conduct	Indecent exposure. Causing a ruckus in the streets. Using xenophobic slurs.	50电 / 5 Minutes
Vandalism / Damaging an Owned IPC	Defacing property.	100电 / 5 Minutes
Littering	Littering items and refusing to clean up.	50电 / 5 Minutes

Misdemeanors

Offence	Description / Examples	Fine
Driving Under the Influence (Space and Planetary)	Operating a motor or space vehicle while inebriated.	250电 (Planetary), 2500电 (Space)
Reckless Spacecraft Operation	Activation of an FTL drive in close proximity (3 grids) to a major inhabited body. Exceeding 8Gm/hour in a civilised system (eg. Tau Ceti).	5000电
Assault / Damage to a Free IPC / Irrepairable Damage to an Owned IPC	To cause severe harm or to attempt to cause severe harm to an individual. To cause easily repairable damage to a Free IPC or irreparable damage to an Owned IPC	500电
Theft / Fraud	Theft or defrauding	250电
Possession of Illegal Substances	See Drug Law for illegal substances.	200电
Weapons Offences	Only enforced in urban centres; no firearms are permitted without a permit; fixed blades cannot be concealed; swords are not permitted. Includes negligent operation, needless brandishing of a weapon. See Weapon Law.	500电
Failure to Comply with a Lawful Order / Obstruction of Justice	Obstructing detaining officers. Refusing to comply with detaining officers.	200电
Reckless Ship Armament Operation	Accidentally striking another vessel with an object or munition that causes no harm to occupants. Firing ship armaments at a major inhabited body, without resulting injury or death.	10000电
Harassment / Making Threats	Prolonged stalking and harassment. Threatening verbal or body language.	200电

Felonies

Offence	Description / Examples
Manslaughter / Murder / Automacide	To kill someone, intentionally or as a result of negligent actions. To terminate a positronic intelligence.
Grievous Bodily Harm / Irrepairable Damage to a Free IPC	To cause potentially fatal harm or that which affects one's life (eg. loss of limb). To cause irreparable damage to a free IPC.
Kidnapping / Hostage Taking	To transport a victim against their will. To demand ransom in exchange for their release.
Smuggling of Illegal Goods (Space)	To transport quantities of illegal goods that demonstrate intent for bulk sale instead of personal use.
Armed Robbery (Planetary), Piracy (Space)	To steal from a private property while brandishing a lethal weapon. To perform armed robbery and theft of cargo against another space vessel or station.
Vehicle Theft	Stealing a motor vehicle or spacecraft
Runaway IPC / IPC with Fraudulent or No Tag	To have escaped ownership. To have a fraudulent tag or no tag at all.

The Republic of Biesel, as a bastion of multiculturalism and inclusion, takes discrimination very seriously (particularly when it comes to speciesism), and so any penalties are tripled if the offence can be considered a hate crime (the primary motive involves discrimination).

See Also

• Republic Security and Law Enforcement
• Drug Law
• The Luna Accords of Interstellar Law
• Republic of Biesel Citizenship Requirements