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laws in westeros

After the Conquest, Aegon I chose to keep the laws of each of the six conquered kingdoms, traveling through his realm with six maesters to advise on local laws and traditions.  By 55 A.C. Jaehaerys I and his advisors, after two years of study, set out to organize, codify, and ultimately reform the laws of the kingdom.  This would take decades.


Ultimately, all justice belongs to the Iron Throne.  While lords are allowed to pronounce justice in the name of the King, they only hold the right of pit and gallows over their own lands.  Within King's landing, the authority to arrest, try, and execute people according to the King's law falls solely within the hands of the Master of Laws or the King himself.

king's peace

A law devised by Aegon I for all subjects of the Iron Throne, prohibited violence and war for the settling of disputes.  Liege lords are to adjudicate the disputes of their vassal lords or landed knights within their own lands, while those between Great Houses are settled by the Iron Throne.  Nobles who go to war without the leave of the king are to be considered rebels and traitors to the Crown.


rule of six

Enacted by Queen Rhaenys, this law states that a man has the right to chastise his adulterous wife but with no more than six blows.  As there are seven gods and an adulterous wife is an offense to the gods, he is in his right to punish her with no more than one blow for each save the strange, who represents death.

rule of thumb

This law states that if a husband chastises an adulterous wife, it is against the law to strike her with any rod or implement thicker than the husband's thumb..

 

maegor's law

These refer to the laws enacted during the reign of Maegor I during the Faith Militant uprising.  These laws forbade holy men from carrying arms and placed bounties on the heads of those who did so.

thievery and pick-pocketing

It is customary for a thief to be punished by losing a finger or a hand, more rarely to have their nose sliced off. Pickpockets are almost always punished by cutting off a hand.

Those who steal from a Sept are considered to have stolen from the gods, and thus their punishment is harsher, often several fingers are taken instead of merely one.

During times of famine, stealing bread is often punished by being placed in a crow cage.

 

poaching

Poaching is forbidden and generally not tolerated.  The punishments for poaching can include being forced to join the Night's Watch, row ships, or losing a hand.  In times of famine, the punishment for this crime is often death by being placed in a crow cage.

slavery

Slavery is seen by both the old gods and the Faith of the Seven as an abomination, and as such, is illegal in the Seven Kingdoms.  No slaves have been kept in Westeros for thousands of years.  The punishment for selling people is Execution.

oathbreaking

Deserting or refusing orders made by the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, or orders made by the King or Lord Commander of the Kingsguard is punishable by death.

outlawry

Outlaws are sentenced to death by hanging.

murder

Murders are often executed by being placed within a crow cage.

rape

Rapists are gelded, hanged, beheaded, or sent to the Wall

treason

One of the most severe crimes, punishable by death.

Often termed "Queen Alysanne's laws" the next two laws refer to those laws enacted during the reign of Jaehaerys I.  They were brought to the attention of the King during his procession through the lands.
 

widow's law

This law reaffirms the right of the eldest son (or eldest daughter, if there are no sons) to inherit.  This law also requires the heir to maintain their father's surviving widow, no matter if they are the first or second wife, under the same conditions as she held before her husband's death.  This provided that the widow could no longer be driven from her late husband's castle, deprived of income, servants, or possessions.  It also prevents men from passing over the children of their first marriage in favor of children from the latter..

the abolishment of the right of the first night

First Night is a now-extinct marriage tradition in Westeros that once stated that when smallfolk marry and in some cases small lords, their liege lord or king has the privilege to bed the bride on the first night.  This law abolishes such traditions and states that the bride's maidenhead only belongs to her husband, whether joined before a Septon or a heart tree.  Any man, be they lord or smallfolk, who forces such a tradition on the wedding night or any other night would be guilty of rape.

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