Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ralts Bloodthorne" data-source="post: 1781226" data-attributes="member: 6390">CONFEDERATE LAW ENFORCEMENTConfederate Law EnforcementWith tens of thousands of habitations across the spiral arm, from small space stations to large, low gravity worlds, the implementation, funding, staffing and coordinating a law enforcement body to police all of Confederate Space was an insurmountable task.Terra-Sol's history provided a simple, elegant, and somewhat cheap answer.By appointing a planetary head judge, whose job it was to oversee the laws of a planet and decide if they are within the legality of the Confederacy's legal code,  as well as overseeing and reviewing the decisions of other planetary judges.Each planet is in charge of creating/maintaining thier own law enforcement.To capture fugitives that fled outside of a system, bounty hunters were recruited and/or trained. Bounty Hunter liscenses are available even for former Hellworld escapee's, ex-military and anyone who applied for the liscense, and passed the courses.Bounty Hunters are authorized lethal force as well as non-lethal methods, and  while they have no official standing to enter restricted areas or government areas not normally open to the public.Bounties range from as little as 1000 cr to a whopping 125 BILLION credits for the Confederacy's most wanted being.SalvageThe space admiralty law of the Terran Confederacy has long recognized that the law of salvage rewards the voluntary salvor for the successful rescue of life or property imperiled at sea. In order to have a valid claim for having rendered salvage services, the salvor must show that the property saved was imperiled or derelict, that his services were voluntarily rendered, and that he was successful in whole or in part to the saving of the property.In the case of equipment or vehicles found derelict, there are several factors that would be considered by a court in establishing the amount of the salvor’s award. Some of these include the difficulty of the operation, the risk involved to the salvor, the value of the property saved, and the degree of danger to which the property was exposed. It would be a rare case in which the salvage award would be greater than 50 percent of the value of the vessel. More commonly, salvage awards amount to 10 percent to 25 percent of the value of the vessel and property salvaged.A salvor who has earned the right to a salvage award for the successful voluntary salvage to a vessel in peril has a preferred space maritime lien on the vessel. However, a salvor must surrender possession of the vessel to the owner on demand if the owner posts reasonable security for the claim. If the owner declines to post sufficient security to pay salvage charges, the salvor must turn the vessel over to the Confederate Navy and proceed to foreclose the maritime lien. This can take as long as 1 year. Should the owner of the vessel refuse to pay off the lien, the ownership reverts to the salvor.A "derelict" is a vessel that has been left by its crew that has no intention to return and no hope of recovery. However, even when a vessel is "abandoned" and left without intention to return, the vessel remains the property of its owner absent some affirmative act by the owner that clearly and convincingly establishes a positive intent to part with ownership.In the case of derelict vessels, when no owner exists or can be determined, the party who recovers property abandoned is entitled to application of the "law of finds". Under this doctrine, title to abandoned property is given to the person who actually finds and takes possession of the property. Most cases decided under the law of finds involve property which was lost long ago and which has remained derelict and beyond the reach of its original owners for many years.A salvor obtains a right to possess the property but not the right of ownership, and the salvor holds the saved property for the benefit of the rightful owner. However, if the law of "finds" applies, then the finder actually obtains possession and ownership of the property. In the case of a "find" the court does not have to set a value because by definition the finder takes title to the property free and clear of all other claims. Remember the rule, "finders keepers losers weepers".The Terran Confederacy has taken the position, and it is generally accepted in space maritime law, that a sovereign government never abandons its vessels or aircraft. Thus, whenever a military wreck is discovered, whether it be a vessel or a plane, the Terran Confederation still asserts its ownership interest. However, in a recent Confederate Court case involving salvage rights to a derelict G'Tak/Protohuman War Swarmhiver Transport allegedly found near the event horizon of a black hole the court rejected the Confederate Navy's claim and sided with the private salvor.The above was adapted and paraphrased from US Maritime Salvage Laws</blockquote>

Verification