Abington/Abington Common Code

Although the Writ of the Law represents the legal document pertaining to the nobility, the Abington Common Code consists of a series of crimes and punishments applicable to the peasants, serfs and burghers of Abington. This document is based on widespread traditional punishments in the various towns and cities of the realm, and collected by Gauihu in the first days of his office as Arch-Priest. It should be noted that the laws governing the mechanics of trial and judicial procedure are separate and unchanged.

The Abington Common Code

I. The high crime of murder shall be punishable by death. The guilty is first drawn and then beheaded, preferably in full public view, if it pleases the local lord.

II. The high crime of rape shall be punishable by impalement. The guilty is to stand unassisted but by a greased, sharpened stake penetrating into him, until the criminal has stood for one week, or died.

III. The crime of theft, unless committed against a noble, shall be punishable by amputation of the thief's right hand.

IV. Robbery, being the crime of forcibly thieving on a Road of Abington, shall be punishable by severing the guilty's hamstrings, such that he is forever crippled.

V. Witchery or demonic influence is to be punished with burning at the stake until death, but for a noble-born the punishment shall be banishment.

VI. Petty crimes and misconducts, as judged by local lords, shall be punishable by placement of the guilty in stocks for a length of time equal to the lord's choosing.

VII. The crime of trespass upon a lord's property shall be punishable by imprisonment. The lord may invoke infangenthef, the right to confiscate the possessions of the trespasser, and to prosecute him.

VIII. The crime of slaying an animal belonging to another man shall be punished with amercement equal to the value of that animal, and in cases of undue harm caused, whipping.

IX. Fraudulence and unpaid debt are to be punished by whipping and imprisonment.

X. Kidnapping, being a high crime, shall be punishable by hanging until death.

XI. To show disrespect before a noble lord shall be punishable by whipping.

XII. Trading in illegal goods, or without a proper liscense to trade, shall be punishable by a heavy fine.

XIII. Adultery and pederasty shall be punishable by burning at the stake.

XIV. To slay a child, being a foul and high crime, is to be punished by placing the guilty in a cauldron of water and boiling until death.

XV. The high crime of treason shall be punishable by death by impalement.

XVI. To commit piracy, against His Majesty's shipping or port, is a crime for which the punishment is death by hanging.