Working on a Criminal Code for a Pirate/Port Town; input welcome.

[Herobizkit]

In our current campaign, my character has returned from his adventures and must now take some time attending to his duties as Lord Mayor of a largely pirate/port/trade town.

Last game, our party held Court and heard some civil and criminal complaints, and this led me to realize that the kingdom in which the town is located is primarily Lawful Good - the harsh kind with a lot of strict punishments. My character is a True Neutral champion of "do my own thing, man" but wants to keep the city running as a business and source of income.

He has changes in store for the town's Legal Code:

He is looking to legalize prostitution and govern it by protecting the workers and their rights (essentially making a Guild of "Geisha", for lack of a better term). He wants high- and lower-class (Burlesque / ladies of the evening) entertainment to be available and to be able to tax the revenue of same. This could be done as a _very_ stylized Bard college...

To that end, he is thinking about placing an edict to protect all entertainers and treat them as if they were nobility. There is something in the 4e builder for this but I can't remember what atm.

He is looking to legalize same-sex partnering (at present, there is a ten-year prison sentence for 'buggery'). If open acceptance isn't a possibility, he is willing to put in a "behind-closed-doors" policy to protect the privacy of those involved in such affairs.

He is opening his doors to all persons of race and creed. Humanoids will be welcome if they can abide by the city's laws; presently, my character's NPC Knight Commander is a Hobgoblin who holds sway over 20k goblins. There are also villages of Goliaths, Elves, Orcs, and Duergar within a few day's ride of the town. Should war come to pass, plans are to pull them all into the city for their defense.

I looked at a few examples of fantasy legal codes (I found one from 1e Waterdeep that was incredibly detailed) but I don't want to just copy/paste.

Any ideas as to what kind of code/laws I should consider for such a place?

 

[howandwhy99]

The law is a huge thing. Criminal law, law enforcement, due process, and the justice system are normally what people think of when it comes laws in RPGs. "What will get me arrested here?" sort of deal. But everything dealing with government is technically applicable.

Look at English Common Law for codes of behavior (or civil law when left to a judge) regarding marriage laws and property. Civil codes cover all kinds legal issues from building a house to signing a contract. But laws also cover the outlining of legal authority for specific positions, rules of succession, and so on too. Authority and power should be addressed. I mean one what do they draw their authority? (gods, bloodline, etc.) And by what power can they hold it? Public access to know the law is important as well. Also basic cultural practices which usually are the basis of common law, but can be reshaped by the altering of laws, passing of edicts, judgments, etc.

EDIT:
For me, a pirate town simply isn't going to be Alignment Lawful. Check out Pirate in the Monster Manual under Buccaneer. They're Chaotic Evil. That's rule by power; fear, threats, and punishment with followers gained due to greed. Easy money for easy work. The Pirate King or captain or whatever rule of authority costs a take of followers' treasure, though you could call this taxation. And law is the Captain's word. They are kings without limit. What their current orders are differ by the person, but in general they do whatever they think they can get away with without revolt.

 

[Razjah]

I wouldn't put Pirates as Chaotic. Pirate Codes Existed.

You may want to look into something like the Code of Hammurabi for some inspiration. While it is a bit harsh, it is very straight forward. i.e. You built my home and it collapsed killing my son? Your son dies.

Those may provide some inspiration. But laws can easily get complicated, or pushing someone in power's agenda. Particularly when only a few people hold the power, such a Merchant-Queen; if she hates the spice traders, they may face a higher tax or port fees.

 

[gamerprinter]

I don't know if it would help or not, there's a mechanic I helped invent for our Way of the Yakuza product for Rite Publishing Kaidan setting of Japanese horror (PFRPG) regarding creating a yakuza gang based on the Pathfinder Gamemastery Guide city stat block. If you remove the Japanese fluff the rules are perfectly suitable for a criminal syndicate. Because the gang populations for syndicates can be 100 - 500+, I think it can port over to governing a pirate community with perhaps only a facelift. Just an idea.

 

[haakon1]

Look at English Common Law ... what do they draw their authority?

You might be thinking like I am on this . . . in a medieval world, ideas like English Common Law might hold sway. The key concept being that the Common Law is "the way things have always been". It's not legislated, it's based on tradition, or later, case law, as in the history of actual decisions. Changing it isn't easy. If Common Law holds that a Serf who flees to a free city for a year and a day is a free man, or a wife and husband can't be forced to testify against each other you can't legislate those rules away -- they are ancient liberties of the people.

So your PC's agenda of "Change" may offend people in his fair city. Maybe a lot.

And BTW, I'm not usually a rat bastard DM, but letting duergar be part of the city defense plan would be a huge invite to me to have them try to conquer the place. Duergar and Drow shouldn't be nice neighbors!