Law and Order

Imperial and Planetary Law

There are two categories of law in the Imperium, ‘Local’ or ‘Planetary’ Laws and ‘Imperial’ Law.

Local and Planetary Laws are set by the Governments of those worlds and deal with petty and minor crimes, often up to and including murder. The influence a Government has on setting those laws can vary, as can the powers of local law enforcement. The makeup of local police forces varies massively from planet to planet as a result; some are more casual volunteer militias whereas on Duroverum, for example, each noble House has a personal security force responsible for enforcing house and planetary laws within their domain, while on Kuatis enforcement is the business of grim Guild thugs. There is no Imperial-mandated uniformity for these local forces and laws; they can vary from planet to planet, from vaguely sensible consequences for theft and murder, to the frankly bizarre laws governing the presentation of a planetary ruler in artwork.

Imperial Law is the direct opposite. It is immutable; every single line of it laid down in the Lex Imperialis, the Book of Judgement - a text so ancient it can trace its first drafting to the Emperor’s initial subjugation of the warring nations of Holy Terra. It is enforced by the Adeptus Arbites, the Imperial Judiciary and Police force, grim individuals schooled and indoctrinated with Imperial values. Imperial Laws primarily focus upon High Crimes such as treason, and threats to the internal security and stability of the Imperium. However, the Arbites have a vast array of powers and wide jurisdiction and will quickly take over investigations from the local police IF they believe it has a connection to a wider threat.

Unlike local police, Arbites ARE the law in of themselves, they need not bring a suspect to a local magistrate; they are (if needed) responsible for judging and sentencing crimes on the spot. These powers, imbued in individuals who are assigned FAR from their homeworlds as to avoid conflicts of interest, are a potent mix that keeps Planetary Governments in line as much as it does Lowborn citizens. The entire Imperium knows that it is constantly under the stern, vigilant gaze of the Arbites, and that should they stray from compliance with Imperial Law, or fail to deliver what the Imperium desires, it will be the Arbites who will ensure they do not make that mistake twice.

Lex Imperialis

At the heart of Imperial Law is the Lex Imperialis, the great codex of Imperial law, held to be the Word of the Emperor Themself. The Lex itself is vast, containing a huge volume of legal precedent and records of past judgement; for this reason, no single copy of the entire Lex exists anywhere but Holy Terra. But it remains the core book of law used by the Adeptus Arbites.

Abridged versions, codices and exegetical manuscripts of the Lex are used throughout the Imperium in Arbites precinct-fortresses, to provide the Adepti Arbites with a basis for their righteous judgements. The most complex cases, however, must be referred back to the Book of Judgement on Holy Terra, and may be centuries in the adjudication – often coming to a conclusion years after the original victims and perpetrators of the alleged crime are long dead.

Arbites often carry a field summary of the Lex known as the Book of Law – often, incorrectly, referred to as the Lex. An oath on such a book is considered by most in the Imperium as binding and sacred as an oath upon a religious text or the Name of the Emperor.

In cases where local planetary or feudal law and the Lex might seem to contradict each other, the Lex – as interpreted in the unquestionable judgement of a sworn Arbiter – always has primacy. Cases which highlight local law diverging too far from the Lex Imperailis are often considered a warning sign that the planetary government is straying dangerously from Imperial norms, and may even call for an investigation into the Governor themself by the Arbites; no Imperial subject is above the Law.

Sentencing

There is one uniform reality for the legal process in the Imperium: neither Arbites nor local Magistrates have any time for trials. Sentencing is almost always carried out on arrest or as soon as the criminal has been dragged before the appropriate official. Only the most prominent and powerful figures are afforded the dignity of standing trial and even then there are many situations where such things are circumvented, especially in the hands of Arbites.

Although the sentencing guidelines for many crimes does give the option of delivering a death warrant, the Imperium very rarely carries out executions of regular citizens. More often than not they are exclusively reserved for prominent and popular criminals for the purpose of propaganda, and for individuals deemed to be irredeemable by the official sentencing them.

For most petty criminals, fines and punitive punishments are used; for those found guilty of more severe crimes the Imperium has penal duty in military Penal Legions, or labour on various penal worlds, colonies and prison ships or to the flagellant penitents of the Ecclesiarchy. Ultimately a dead body is of less use to the Imperium then a live one, executions waste resources in more than one way and disposing of human remains takes more effort than one realizes. Thanks to advanced technology, those criminals deemed too much of a threat to be assigned to penal duties, or that know too much to be safely left intact are handed over to the Adeptus Mechanicus. These unfortunate souls suffer fates worse than death - lobotomised and modified with bionics and transformed into grotesque cyborg thralls known as ‘Servitors’. Indeed the Imperium does make heavy use of these thralls, not just for their tireless labour, but so that the sight of a former neighbour’s face left vacant and mutilated as they work machine-like is a solid reminder of what happens to those who err.

Death of criminals does of course occur; all Arbites and most local police carry an array of lethal weapons, and many ‘non-lethal’ weapons are often the opposite of that. Should criminals resist arrest or present any kind of threat to an Arbites or police enforcer, many will use lethal force rather than be put at risk. This judgement is backed by the Lex Imperialis, which supports placing the life of a law enforcer before that of a suspect.

There are also situations where mass executions are permitted. Planetary rebellions or mass rioting see Arbites turn from a police force to an elite military force to maintain Imperial control of a world - participating in rebellion is a capital crime and the Lex Imperialis supports the use of lethal force to suppress major unrest. In addition, it is not uncommon for both Arbites and Local Enforcers to engage in ‘Crime Blitzes’ against criminals and cleansing of mutant populations. In both cases hunter-killer teams will bring down the heaviest available equipment and scour the area designated as the target of the operation, brutally suppressing even minor crimes or purging mutants wherever they find them.

The Adeptus Arbites

The Adeptus Arbites are the Imperial law enforcement and judiciary. Oath-sworn to uphold Imperial Law above all else, they pursue, judge and summarily prosecute the most serious criminals, answering to neither Planetary Governor nor noble House in their pursuit of the Emperor’s Justice. They are the force of Law in the Imperium of Humanity. They enforce law and act as judge, jury and executioner; citizens of the Imperium have no rights before their powers.

They deal with major crimes, the vast majority of minor crimes, including most murders, are dealt with by local planetary Enforcers. The Arbites concern themselves with serious breakdowns in order and breaches of Imperial law where the local security forces have proved ineffective. They are not military, although they have a hierarchical rank structure and often use similar equipment to the Imperial Guard, they do not fall under Military command. Any Arbiter is expected to be capable of acting alone and without the support of their hierarchy.

They enforce Imperial law, the Arbites enforce the Lex Imperialis, which overrules all planetary and Sector laws. They oversee Governors and nobles, rank and temporal power are no bar to the duties of an Arbiter. The Adeptus Arbites can arrest a Planetary Governor who fails to pay their Imperial Tithe or a noble of a major House accused of a serious crime.

The Arbites are for this reason, largely divorced from their lives before they joined, many are taken from the Orphans raised within the Schola Progenium, but others come from multiple backgrounds including planetary Enforcement. Because of this Arbitrators are removed from the world of their Birth, they are expected to remain aloof from the affairs of any family if they are Nobles and are often sent to serve Sectors away from their homes so that their loyalty can never be questioned.

Bounty Hunters

Bounty Hunters fill a gap where traditional Imperial Law Enforcement is lacking, such as on the frontiers of Imperial space like the Prosperitas Sector. In these regions when a criminal slips outside of the reach of the Arbites and Local Law Enforcement and there are simply not the resources to manage pursuit of such a wide array of individual perps, Bounty Hunters are contracted. The Imperium prefers to deal directly with organised 'Guilds' of Hunters with whom it settles an agreed fee for their member who brings in a bounty as well as a cut for the Guild as well for making the arrangement. It is not a practice favoured by the Imperium as it is considered a sign of weakness to rely on others, but it is commonplace enough.

Where individuals are taking justice into their own hands and hiring bounty hunters and 'assassins' for more private arrangements that represent personal vendettas this is largely considered to be illegal, though in practice blind eyes are turned in the cases of prominent members of Imperial society.

Bounty Hunters in the Prosperitas Sector

The Honourable Consortium of Bounty Hunters is the largest and oldest confederation of Bounty Hunter Guilds in the Prosperitas Sector it exists as a loose arrangement of Guilds that have agreed to share bounty pots and information across Interstellar lines of Guild jurisdictions – through this the Consortium maintains a strong grip on Bounty Hunter contracts, many Hunters themselves resent this as paying membership fees to the Consortium is the only way to access their Marks.

Because the Consortium focuses on Imperial bounties it also demands Hunters comply to a code of not stepping outside of Imperial law, or accepting private contracts that conflict with Imperial Law. This has led to hunters creating of rival organisations such as the Elite League of Bounty Hunters with which the Consortium has been at Guild War with since 983.593.M41 which accepts contracts from anyone who can supply an award.

Consortium members are usually identified by paperwork bearing it’s seal and more often than not Guild tattoos (many favour facial markings as they take a great deal of pride in their pseudo-law-enforcement role).