Have you given thought to how international law might shape your world? Even having notes on which nations subscribe to a body of international law standards can be a fun way to add depth to the political landscape.
Legal systems can be interesting (no really!) Americans and Britons are used to a common law, where legal precedents form the basis for future rulings, but there are other forms as well - the Roman system of civil law, and the Muslim system of Sharia law also exist.
In my setting, a fallen empire’s legal system formed the basis for a loose international treaty for the kingdoms that arose in its place - thus, the Pandect, a series of codes and standards to which today’s kingdoms and republics all either flout, follow, or attempt to follow in various ways.
https://kanka.io/en/campaign/7004/notes/4851
Have you ever tried making your own legal code? You are hereby sentenced to share.
This is my attempt to write the actual Interspecies Peace Agreement, the treaty that basically say natural predators or prey won’t eat each other anymore. Think Zootopia but with actual animal shaped animals instead of anthros.
This is the world it’s set in: https://lemmy.ml/post/2232578
The ISPA has way more provisions than just banning predation. Other protections granted include freedom of migration between ISPA territories, and that you can’t discriminate by species (or discriminate in general). I’ll write those sections in the future.
Interspecies Peace Agreement
Article 1: Scope of this Treaty
The terms of the Interspecies Peace Agreement (“ISPA” or, “this Treaty”) shall apply to:
Any animal residing in or passing through the natural territory of any species, clade, or taxa, that is signatory to this Treaty
Any animal who is a natural member of any species, clade, or taxa, that is signatory to this Treaty, or is a registered citizen of any territory in the scope of the previous paragraph, regardless of their geographic location
Any individual animal signatory to this Treaty, or any registered citizen or member or any territory, nation state, population, community, or other entity that is signatory to this Treaty, or
Any animal, entity, territory, nation state, population, community, species, clade, or taxa, who engages in or wish to engage in commercial, cultural, technological, or academic trade with any member entities of this Treaty, when interacting with any ISPA signatories.
Article 2: Predation and Causing the Death of Animals
Signatories of this Treaty are to criminalize, immediately following the signature of this Treaty:
Predation of Any Animal, and
Causing the Death of an Animal
For the purpose of this Treaty, an animal is guilty of “Predation” if they willfully eats, directly or indirectly, any bodily tissue, organ or structure of any other animal.
Predation and Causing the Death of an Animal shall be separate criminalized offenses, and in cases of Causing the Death of an Animal for the purposes of or to facilitate Predation, they are to be prosecuted concurrently as separate criminal charges and criminal sentences executed consecutively. Attempts at either shall also be criminalized under the same or a lesser charge. Where a group of animals engage in a conspiracy to commit or attempt Predation but not all animals are directly involved in the death or attempted death of an animal, the entire group shall be charged with both offenses.
ISPA member entities shall also be required to take all reasonable actions to educate against, prevent, investigate, prosecute, and execute criminal sentences for any instance of Predation or Causing the Death of an Animal.
To see how the treaty is ratified, here’s a look at Section One of the Feline Criminal Code. They have the harshest punishments for predation as, being cats and all, they have the biggest problem with their citizens preying on others and only recently signed the ISPA.
Section 1; Paragraph 1
Any Feline who engages in, attempts to engage in, or takes any action in preparation to engage in, encourages another animal to engage in, or facilitates another animal in engaging in Simple Predation is guilty of a Class 5 offence under this section and shall be sentenced to fixed term imprisonment of no less than one year but not more than twenty years, and optionally fined without limitation.
For the purposes of this act, Simple Predation is “Predation” as defined by the Interspecies Peace Agreement, where the act does not involve, neither directly nor indirectly, the death of an animal, or the animal has died of causes unrelated to the act of Predation.
Felines sentenced under this paragraph shall not be eligible for parole until half of the given sentence has been served.
Felines sentenced under this paragraph shall be barred for life from holding public office, working in any Public or State-run Ministry, Institution, or Enterprise, voting in any election, applying for the sealing or removal of any parts of their criminal record, holding a passport, or migrating out of Feline territory.
The above restrictions may be individually released by a ruling of the Feline Central Court and if authorized by the Feline Ministry of Security, with additional conditions placed on the continued release of these restrictions.
Section 1; Paragraph 2
Any Feline who willfully causes or attempts to cause, by any means, directly or indirectly, the death of another animal, or either willfully or recklessly without regard for the safety of others, engages in any act they know to have a high propensity to cause or contribute to the death of another, and where the act does in fact cause or contribute to the death of an animal, is guilty of Willfully Causing the Death of an Animal and a Class 9 offense under this section and shall be sentenced to imprisonment for life without parole.
Section 1; Paragraph 3
Any Feline who commits an offense under Paragraph 2 for the purpose of committing or facilitating the commission of an offense under Paragraph 1, is guilty of First Degree Predation and a Class 10 offense under this section, and shall be:
Sentenced to imprisonment for life without parole for one count of this offense, or
For two or more counts of this offense, sentenced to imprisonment for life without parole, or, if requested by the Feline Ministry of Justice Public Prosecutor’s Office and authorized by the Feline Ministry of Security, sentenced to death.
Well written stuff here, it feels so verisimilitudinous! Could be passed in the Senate with no one even blinking!
The legalese gives it some extra punch, and fits well in the structure you’ve presented for your world thus far.
Also, the use of ‘migrating’ in point 3 of section 1, paragraph 1 was subtle, but again, makes the document so immersive!
Thank you! I love putting in little things that make a fantasy world feel like not our own! I also try to use things like paw instead of hand too. I always enjoyed reading those little details in fantasy animal books so I try to add them in as well!