Harpercraft Exams: Law Exam
- Question 1: What is the basic legal document off of which Pernese law is based?
- Question 2: How are area leaders chosen for each area?
- Question 3: If a Lord Holder calls in a harper to judge a criminal and dislikes the harper's decision, what legal recourse does he have?
- Question 4: True or false (Explain): A Lord Holder does not have complete authority over his Hold.
- Question 5: If a Lord Holder abuses his power, what will Conclave do? State precedent.
Or check out the subtotals for this section.
Question 1: What is the basic legal document off of which Pernese law is based? [4 points possible]
Answer: The Charter.
Ellena: The original Pern Colony Charter. [4 points]
Azalea: The Charter, a document signed by all the original colonists which
outlined the 'way things are going to run', more or less, and granted
each their rights, a certain number of acres, transportation to Pern,
etc. [4 points]
Zanadia: The basic legal document was the Magna Carta. [0 points]
Saundethen: The Charter [4 points]
Reeba: The Charter [4 points]
Usha: The Charter [4 points]
Sapphira: The Charter that was made by the colonists when they first came
to Pern. I think it was only called The Charter. [4 points]
Kandar: The Charter [4 points]
Arialla: The Ancients' Charter. [4 points]
Kellira: Enter The charter of the original colonists [4 points]
Loeree: The Charter [4 points]
Oriana: The Charter. [4 points]
Will: the Charter [4 points]
Kestria: The basic legal document off of which Pernese law is based is
that of the Charter originally drawn up between the group of colonists
and the Council of the Federated Sentient Planets. The Pern Charter was
signed, originally, by six thousand and twenty-three people. [4 points]
Rain: I know what it is, but not the exact name. It's the charter they
drew up and took with them. [4 points]
Khayet: The Charter [4 points]
Ambar: Some sort of big constitution thingy. It has a lot to do with what
to do to keep thread from being a 100% deadly threat. I don't know what
it's called, but it is generally accepted by all holds. [3 points]
Laurenlee: The Charter I suppose. [4 points]
Return to the list of questions.
Question 2: How are area leaders chosen for each area? [4 points possible]
Answer: Weyrs: Weyrleader flies the senior queen. Holds: Chosen as Heir by the former Lord, and confirmed by Conclave. Halls: Chosen by the Masters. The previous Craftmaster's wishes are typically honored.
Ellena: A Weyrleader is chosen through the mating flight of the senior
queen; the rider of the dragon who flies her becomes the Weyrleader. The
leader of each Craft is elected by the other Masters in that Craft. A
Lord Holder is chosen/confirmed by the Conclave of Lord Holders. [4
points]
Azalea: ICly, the area leader follows for each division of Pern: Holds,
the Lord and Lady Holder are expected to have a large number of offspring
and to train them all, and later name one of them as heir as they judge
best; if left heirless or one was not named before the (usually untimely)
death of the previous Lord, the Conclave will vote for the new leader. In
Crafts there is one Mastercraftsman, elected by either the other Crafters
or the previous one, for his or her skill and ability to manage things as
demonstrated during their (usually quite long) time at the hall. In weyrs
the senior weyrwoman is chosen from the goldriders for similar reasons,
while the weyrleader is merely the bronze- or occasionally brownrider who
caught the weyrwoman's queen in her last mating flight. OOCly, all area
leaders are elected. [4 points]
Zanadia: Area leaders are chosen by blood for Holds, and in Weyrs by a
queeens mating flight. [2 points]
Saundethen: Crafts-Master is chosen by other staff; Weyr-Riding
gold/catching queen in mating; Hold-Usually inherited, or displaying
leadership [4 points]
Reeba: "What the heck is an area leader???? Hmmm? Silly me has no idea
what is meant by this question. [0 points]
Usha: They are selected by the current Holder to succeed them, or chosen
by Council in case of emergency. [2 points]
Sapphira: Area leaders are chosen by the blood lineage of the previous
holders. Women become Lady Holders if they handfast as Lord Holder,
Weyrwoman and Weyrleaders by mating flights, and wouldn't the Craftmast
of a craft pick their successor? OOCly, it is chosen by a group of area
leaders, or wizards and they pick their successors..etc. [4 points]
Arialla: If this is an IC question, then... Each area holds a conclave
and elects a new leader. Now, if it's an OOC question, those folk who
are active pick from amongst each other. As with the CM for Harper,
there is a rotation amongst those council members who are willing to take
the job. [2 points]
Kellira: The masters decide [1 points]
Loeree: Blood succession. (Father/Mother to son/daughter) However, the
Conclave of Lord holders must confirm all Lord holders before they can
take office. Minor holders are apointed by the Lord Holder (when opening
a new hold) And are succeeded by one of their children. I am not
certain if there is a confirmation process involved here as well or not.
[2 points]
Oriana: Hold: A possible successor is presented to the Conclave of Lords
Holder, which votes as a body on the candidate's worthiness to Hold.
Hall: A new craftmaster is normally chosen by a vote among the masters
of that craft. If the retiring/deceased craftmaster has made a preference
clear, it is usually given weight in the final decision. Weyr: The
Weyrwoman is the most senior goldrider in the Weyr. The Weyrleader is
the rider of the dragon which catches the senior queen in a mating
flight. [4 points]
Will: Too many ways! Usually the old leader trains 'em up and passes it
along. :) OOCly, assuming. [1 points]
Kestria: I'll presume this is an IC question first. Beginning with the
weyrs, the primary leader is the weyrwoman, the rider of the most senior
gold. The rider of the male dragon who mates with the senior queen (most
often a bronze dragon, sometimes a brown) becomes the weyrleader. This
man is in charge of the riders of the weyr, whereas the weyrwoman is in
charge of the day to day running of the weyr, generally handles
administrative duties and is often the 'face of the weyr' at gatherings
and other social events. Lords and/or Lady Holders become area leaders
through inheritance, much like the British Royal Family of present day
earth. It can be compared to the peerage and can become quite complicated
if there is no immediate heir apparent. Inheritance is generally what
happens if there is an heir, however, the DLG states that 'when a Lord
Holder dies or retires, his heir or successor may be of no relation to
him at all. What matters is that the man is able to fulfill the
responsibilities he owes to the many hundreds or thousands who will look
to him. Most frequently, though, an heir will be of the Blood, or a
fosterling who has lived in the Hold sufficiently long to be familiar
with its operation and to have gained the trust of its folk.' When it
comes to the Crafts, the Craftmaster is the recognized expert of a
particular area. In established Crafts, the CM is generally an all around
master; that is, a Master who is familiar with /all/ areas of a Craft to
the point of expertise. To address OOC appointment of area leaders is a
different matter. In the weyr, again, the weyrwoman is the rider of the
senior gold, but there is generally some voting as to whom will be
weyrleader and it doesn't necessarily have to be the rider of the dragon
that mates with the senior gold (although I believe this is generally
made to happen via RP after the vote). Lord and/or Lady Holders are
generally appointed for their experience in MOOing and proven ability to
lead an area. Generally a small TP is made to accomodate for their
appointments. In a similar vein, CM's are appointed for their experience
and ability and demonstrated knowledge of an area. [4 points]
Rain: I'm going to assume you mean hold by 'area' The current leader
chooses a successor from those of his bloodline. If the current leader
refuses or fails to name a successor before his resignation or demise,
bloodfeuds may begin. [1 points]
Khayet: Lords inherit and are confirmed by the Conclave. Weyrleaders' are
chosen by the Sr. Queen dragon when the Wl's dragon catches the Sr. Queen
in a flight. Craftmasters are chosen by the CM before and then confirmed
by all able to vote on the matter (masters and journeymen, if I remember
rightly.) [4 points]
Ambar: I think they are generally either voted in or by inheritance. [2
points]
Laurenlee: Honestly, I believe it varies for each - or is that what you're
asking? [0 points]
Return to the list of questions.
Answer: He can overrule the Harper.
Ellena: He can overrule the decision himself, or take it to the Conclave.
[4 points]
Azalea: I believe he can appeal to the Masterharper. [1 points]
Zanadia: They would cappeal to the Masterharper. [1 points]
Saundethen: He can overrule the Harper's decision [4 points]
Reeba: He can overturn the decision if the jurisdiction falls within his
hold boundaries. If he is involved or several jurisdictions are
involved, he can appeal to the Masterharper. [4 points]
Usha: He has no choice; harper decision is final. [0 points]
Sapphira: The Lord Holder would still be in charge of the trial and could
therefore denounce the harper's judgement and it would be legal. [4
points]
Kandar: He can disregard the Harper's decision and do something himself.
All Holders have aautonomy inside thier respective areas. [4 points]
Arialla: The Holder can over rule the Harper, as a Harper's job is to
advise, not judge. [4 points]
Kellira: If the harper is a jman or master, the LH can appeal to the
MasterHarper. He can also approach the conclave. Barring those ideas, he
can always just do as he wants. [4 points]
Loeree: The Harper's decission is not final. They have no legal authority
to judge criminals. The ultamate authority in this case is the Lord
Holder in whose hold the crime was commited. Many, however, will abide
by the decision of the harper, or not bother to call one in. The only
time this would not be so, is when the Lord Holder is the accused, then
the Conclave would decide his punishment, not a harper. [4 points]
Oriana: If it's within the Lord's Hold, he can simply reverse the
decision. Whether it's popular or not, it is within his priviledge as
the Lord Holder. [4 points]
Will: He's asked for it, he gets it. :p [0 points]
Kestria: Since we are talking about a Lord Holder here who has asked for
the services of a Harper, there are likely a couple of answers to the
question. First, if the officiating harper is of no greater rank than
Journeyman, the Lord Holder could appeal to the Masterharper if he wishes
to be diplomatic about the situation, however, since each Hold, Hall and
Weyr is autonomous, the Lord Holder is not required to abide by the
Harper's decision at all and can quite easily reverse the Harper's
decision. It is merely a courtesy for the Lord Holder to advise the
Harper of why the decision was reversed. If the matter is severe, the
Lord Holder could appeal to a conclave of Lord Holders, but essentially,
the Lord Holder may act in a similar manner to a present day Earth judge
who has the power of overturning any decision made by a jury. (Although
it's rarely done nowadays, judges do have that ability.) [4 points]
Rain: He can take his case to a higher authority, a.k.a. the Harper
Council or a reasonable facsimile thereof, ie: the Masterharper. [1
points]
Khayet: He can over turn it. While a harper is impartial, the Lords word
is law in his area. He can also contact the Master Harper about the
matter. [4 points]
Ambar: try for another trial with a different harper. [1 points]
Laurenlee: Hmmm...well, doesn't he have just about every right to
disregard it? [4 points]
Return to the list of questions.
Answer: True. The Lord Holder has rules to follow. He must act within the bounds of the Charter. His authority is complete within those limits.
Ellena: False. As long as he/she observes the principles outlined in the
Charter, and recognizes the autonomy of Hold, Craft & Weyr, A Lord Holder
*does* have complete authority over his Hold. [4 points]
Azalea: Holds are autonamous, meaning that dragonriders, Crafters, or
other holders cannot in most cases interfere with the Lord or Lady
Holder's business. As long as he or she does not cruelly and
unnecessarily abuse their power, I believe they have complete authority
over their own holdings. [3 points]
Zanadia: False, because if he is doing things against Pernese law, he
could get into trouble. [4 points]
Saundethen: True; he works with other hold authorities and tyranny is at
least supposedly prevented by the rest of Pern (or the Conclave) [4
points]
Reeba: True, as long as the Lord Holder holds his title, he does have
complete authority. However, if he abuses his power or fails in his duty
to his holders, he can be removed as Lord Holder by the conclave. [4
points]
Usha: False; The Lord Holder has autonomy and authority in all matters
unless he gives control to another freely. [1 points]
Sapphira: False. A Lord Holder would have complete rule over his hold and
the area that it covers. Now he can not control crafters in his hold,
like where they are posted, when they gain rank, etc, but he does have
authority over those that break the rules of the Hold and over trials
held within his hold. Conclave will make sure he doesn't get too out of
control, but they have no say in how he runs his hold, as he doesn't have
any say in theirs. [3 points]
Kandar: False-- Crafthalls are also considered self-governing. A
Craftmaster can with hold goods and service to a Hold if he so wishes,
the Lord Holder can also ban such services within his hold. If the
criminal in the above question, for example, had committed the alleged
act inside a crafthall, judgement would be in the hands of the
Craftmaster, not the Holder. (The Holder can however, kick the craft out
of his Hold if he strongly objects to the decision.) In an Earth analogy,
there lies a city by the name of Rome, which has a mayor and is even the
seat of a countries government, however inside this city lies an area
known as the Vatican which is under sole autonomy of a man called the
Pope. For all intents and purposes the Vatican is a microstate within a
city. Such is the state of affairs between Craft and Hold. [3 points]
Arialla: False. A Lord Holder has the final say over anything in his
hold. [1 points]
Kellira: False. He does have complete control. [1 points]
Loeree: false [0 points]
Oriana: False. In the current context of Pern, Ninth and/or Tenth Pass
(depending on whether you're relying soley on the books or also on the
MOO's reality), the Lord Holder has complete authority until he ceases to
become the Lord Holder. Not that political maneuvering and sanctions
wouldn't have any effect, but the ultimate decisions are the Lord's to
make. [3 points]
Will: True. Posted crafters, watchriders, etc. are autonomous from the
hold and only marginally under his authority. [2 points]
Kestria: False. A Lord Holder has complete authority over his Hold and is
autonomous in that authority, just as Weyrleaders and Craftmasters are
autonomous in their authority over weyr and craft respectively. This
autonomy also means that no Lord Holder has any authority over another
major Hold. Small cot holds and farms do come under the authority of the
nearest major hold and that Lord Holder. [3 points]
Rain: True and False. He has complete authority over his Hold to an
extent. He does not control any crafthalls that may be in existence in
that Hold, and he must keep the area "green free". Well, I suppose he
doesn't /have/ to, but if he doesn't, he'll regret it during Fall. [3
points]
Khayet: False. [0 points]
Ambar: false. It would be quite easy for large groups of people to declare
mob rule and then lynch him. I'd like to see any lord rule when he's
dead. More realisticly, I think that crafts have more authority in their
crafthalls. [1 points]
Laurenlee: False, as long as it doesn't violate charter. [4 points]
Return to the list of questions.
Answer: The trick here was in the precise phrasing: not "What can Conclave do?" but "What will Conclave do?" The answer to the latter is: most probably nothing. Historical precedents through the books don't show much action unless the Lords act on others' lands. The precedents part was an important part of the question: Fax would be a legitimate precendent; if you had one to support your argument, you gained several points.
Ellena: As in the case of Lord Chalkhan, during the Second Pass, the
Conclave will remove the Lord Holder from his position. That is a case of
the system working well. However, just prior to the Ninth Pass, Lord Fax
managed to brutally seize 7 holds with nary a peep from the Conclave. By
the time they had collected enough evidence to suit them, Fax was so
powerful that they were afraid to act. That is a case of the system not
working well. [4 points]
Azalea: In extreme circumstances, the Conclave can vote to force a Lord
Holder to renounce his hold. (?) [2 points]
Zanadia: Conclave will take his hold away from him. [1 points]
Saundethen: Hmm... Tell him he's grounded? [1 points]
Usha: A Lord Holder who abuses power and/or defies Conclave can be
impeached (removed from power) if a unanimous vote is given to do so.
This occured just previous to the Second Pass with the vote of Conclave
to impeach the Lord Holder of Bitra. [4 points]
Sapphira: The conclave will have a meeting and decide on whether to make
the Lord Holder step down from his position, exile him, or if the
situation is severe enough, punish him with death. The replacement will
be found by the next male in the bloodline. [2 points]
Arialla: The Conclave will remove him from power, provided they are united
in their decision. A possible precedent could be when Malkan came to
Ista. While Lord of Crom, he attempted to take Ista as well and was
eventually sent packing. [2 points]
Kellira: Conclave can 'boycott' the offending hold, withholding trade and
such. A precedent took place with Meron of Nabol. The conclave isolated
his hold, then voted on a new Lord Holder. [3 points]
Oriana: Nothing. In theory, they may remove the Lord Holder. In
practice, none of them would want the Conclave to remove *them*, so they
would not tend to vote in favor of removal. Note Fax, Lord Holder of
High Reaches in the Ninth Interval -- he absorbed politically or
militarily six other Holds, and allowed Ruatha to be run into the ground,
and the Conclave never did a thing to check him or his power. [4 points]
Will: The whole Conclave can overturn his decision, and/or depose him.
Rarely. [2 points]
Kestria: Presuming that this question pertains only to a Lord Holders'
Conclave, the Conclave has the authority to remove the abusive Lord
Holder and replace him with someone they deem to be fit for the position.
An actual example of the Conclave removing, or impeaching a Lord Holder
can be seen in _Dragonseye_ (or as it was published in Australia, _Red
Star Rising_). The Lord Holders and Weyrleaders were in agreement that
Lord Chalkin, Holder of Bitra be impeached and removed from his lands
when he refused to co-operate in the preparation against the impending
fall of Thread at the beginning of the Second Pass. [4 points]
Rain: This is difficult. Lord Holder Fax abused his power by conquering
other Holds, which is against "One Holder, one Hold." in the extreme. He
went unpunished for that. However, there was another Lord Holder (Crom
or Bitra, I can't remember) that abused his power, and he was forced to
resign and another person given the reigns. [4 points]
Khayet: The Conclave can strip an abusive lord of his rank and power. Or
they can choose to not acknowledge it to begin with, as in the case of
Fax, origonally of High Reaches. [4 points]
Ambar: They will vote on it and oust him. Didn't they do something like
that to Meron? [1 points]
Laurenlee: I'd say that they'll remove him, but I'm not sure what
precedent. [0 points]
Return to the list of questions.
Azalea: 14
Saundethen:17
Zanadia: 8
Ellena: 20
Reeba: 12
Sapphira: 17
Usha: 11
Kandar: 11
Arialla: 13
Kellira: 13
Loeree: 10
Oriana: 19
Kestria: 19
Rain: 13
Ambar: 8
Khayet: 16
Will: 9
Laurenlee: 12
Return to the list of questions.
Return to the exam index.
Move on to the:
© Content Copyright P. Rutins and the Members of the Harper's Tale Harpercraft, 1999
© Pern and the concept of the Harpercraft is the property of Ms. Anne McCaffrey, who kindly allows us to play in her world. Thank you!