About Merchant Law
hhg8fff
Merchant Law is the only universal law on Gor, it extends beyond the walls of the City and covers the whole of Gor. These quotes have been included as a guideline.
“The fairs incidentally are governed by Merchant Law and supported by booth rents and taxes levied on the items exchanged. The commercial facilities of these fairs, from money changing to general banking, are the finest I know of on Gor, save those in Ar’s Street of Coins, and letters of credit are accepted and loans negotiated, though often at usurious rates, with what seems reckless indifference. Yet perhaps this is not so puzzling, for the Gorean cities will, within their own walls, enforce the Merchant Law when pertinent, even against their own citizens. If they did not, of course, the fairs would be closed to the citizens of that city.” (Priest Kings, Page 14)
“There is a saying on Gor, “Gold has no caste.” It is a saying of which the merchants are fond. Indeed, secretly among themselves, I have heard, they regard themselves as the highest caste on Gor, though they would not say so for fear of rousing the indignation of other castes. There would be something, of course, to be said for such a claim, for the merchants are often indeed in their way, brave, shrewd, skilled men, making long journeys, venturing their goods, risking caravans, negotiating commercial agreements, among themselves developing and enforcing a body of Merchant Law, the only common legal arrangements existing among the Gorean cities. Merchants also, in effect, arrange and administer the four great fairs that take place each year near the Sardar Mountains. I say “in effect” because the fairs are nominally under the direction of a committee of the Caste of Initiates, which, however, largely contents itself with its ceremonies and sacrifices, and is only too happy to delegate the complex management of those vast, commercial phenomena, the Sardar Fairs, to members of the lowly, much-despised Caste of Merchants, without which, incidentally, the fairs most likely could not exist, certainly not at any rate in their current form.” (Nomads, Page 84)
“The fairs, too, however, have many other functions. … It is here that Merchant Law is drafted and stabilized.” (Beasts, Page 44)
“The Weight and the Stone, incidentally, are standardized throughout the Gorean cities by Merchant Law, the only common body of law existing among the cities. The official “Stone,” actually a solid metal cylinder, is kept, by the way, near the Sardar. Four times a year, on a given day in each of the four great fairs held annually near the Sardar, it is brought forth with scales, that merchants from whatever city may test their own standard “Stone” against it.
…
As in the case of the official “Stone”, so, too, at the Sardar is a metal rod, which determines the Merchant Foot, or Gorean foot, as I have called it.” (Raiders, Page 127 & 128)
“The Merchants have, in the last few years, on certain trade routes, between Ar and Ko-ro-ba, and between Tor and Ar, established palisade compounds, defensible stockades.
…
Various cities, through their own Merchant Castes, lease land for these stockades and, for their fees, keep their garrisons, usually men of their own cities, supplied. The stockades are governed under Merchant Law, legislated and revised, and upheld, at the Sardar Fairs.”
(Captive, Page 219)
“The representative of the Merchants, to whom I reported my business, and to whom I paid for wharf-age, asked no questions. He did not even demand the proof of registration of the Tesephone in Tabor. The Merchants, who control Lydius, under merchant law, for it is a free port, like Helmutsport, and Schendi and Bazi, are more interested in having their port heavily trafficked than strictly policed.”
(Hunters, Page 43)
“He himself resided, I understood, in Telnus, the capital of Cos, where his company had its headquarters. His work chains, however, were politically neutral, understood under merchant law as hire-able instruments. They might, accordingly, and sometimes did, work for both sides in given conflicts.” (Dancer, Page 322)
“Merchant law has been unsuccessful, as yet, in introducing such things as patents and copyrights on Gor. Such things do exist in municipal law on Gor but the jurisdictions involved are, of course, local.” (Magicians, Page 394)
“She was referring to a series of wars, loosely referred to as the Slave Wars, which occurred among various cities in the middle latitudes of Gor, off and on, over a period of approximately a generation. They had occurred long before my coming to Gor. Although large-scale slaving was involved in these wars, and was doubtless a sufficient condition for them, hence the name, other considerations, as would be expected, were often involved, as well, such as the levying of tribute and the control of trade routes. Out of the Slave Wars grew much of the merchant law pertaining to slaves.” (Vagabonds, Page 272)
“It is my understanding, following merchant law, and Tahari custom,” I said, “that I am not a slave, for though I am a prisoner, I have been neither branded nor collared, nor have I performed a gesture of submission.” (Tribesmen, Page 196)
“In the case of the girl, Rowena, of course, as she was already a self-pronounced slave, the brand and collar were little more than identification formalities. Nonetheless she would wear them. They would be fixed visibly and clearly upon her. This is in accord with the prescriptions of merchant law.” (Players, Page 36)
“You understand further, of course,” said he, “that under Gorean merchant law, which is the only law commonly acknowledged binding between cities, that you stand under separate permissions of enslavement. First, were you of Ar, it would be my right, could I be successful, to make of you a slave, for we share no Home Stone. Secondly, though you speak of yourself as the Lady Elicia of Ar, of Six Towers, you are, in actuality, Miss Elicia Nevins of the planet Earth. You are an Earth girl and thus stand within a general permission of enslavement, fair beauty quarry to any Gorean male whatsoever.” (Slave Girl, Page 394)
“The legal point, I think, is interesting. Sometimes, in the fall of a city, girls who have been enslaved, girls formerly of the now victorious city, will be freed. Technically, according to Merchant Law, which serves as the arbiter in such inter-municipal matters, the girls become briefly the property of their rescuers, else how could they be freed? Further, according to Merchant Law, the rescuer has no obligation to free the girl. In having been enslaved she has lost all claim to her former Home Stone.” (Explorers, Page 409)
“Girls such as I must expect to be marked,” she said. “It is in accord with the recommendations of merchant law.” (Kajira, Page 46)
“You’re going to be branded,” he said, “and put in a collar.” I regarded him with disbelief. “But so too, will the other girls,” he said. “You will all have your brands and collars.” I could not speak. “Such things are prescribed by merchant law,” he said.
(Dancer, Page 62)
“Some fellows do not brand their slaves,” I said. “That is stupid!” she said.
“It is also contrary to the laws of most cities,” I said, “and to merchant law, as well.”
(Vagabonds, Page 188)
“But her left thigh worn no brand. Her right thigh, too, as I soon noted, did not wear the slave mark, nor did her lower left abdomen. These are the three standard marking places, following the recommendations of Merchant Law, for the marking of kajirae, with the left thigh being, in practice, the overwhelmingly favored brand site.” (Fighting Slave, Page 312)
“The thighs and the lower left abdomen are the brand sites recommended by Merchant Law.” (Fighting Slave, Page 349)
"There is a saying on Gor that the laws of a city extend no further than its walls." (Outlaw, Page 50)
"It is my understanding, following merchant law, and Tahari custom,” I said, “that I am not a slave, for though I am a prisoner, I have been neither branded nor collared, nor have I performed a gesture of submission." (Tribesmen, Page 196)
​
​
​