Legal system of Hama

Constitutional Law

Constitutional law follows the application and interpretation of the founding document of Hama as a modern state. The Covenant of Union forms the basis of the realisation Hama as a modern state. It was signed among the chiefs of the tribes and delineates their responsibilities and powers. It establishes the office of the King as the supreme governor of the whole nation. It vests the power to make laws in the hands of the King with the approval of the Council of Chiefs. It gives the chiefs the right to rule over their own dominions. The constitutional law of Hama, however, is not the same as constitutional monarchies or democracies. The Covenant forms a big part of the spirit of the way in which power is envisioned to be delineated, but it does not form the sole authority. The Council of Chiefs and the King have the authority to interpret and apply the Covenant or in fact create new laws that go against the Covenant. In this light, constitutional law in Hama cannot be interpreted or handled in the same way that law is handled in other jurisdictions.

Law of persons

The law of persons regulates the framework by which persons are recognised. A "person" is one who can exercise or is protected by legal rights. There are two "persons": juristic persons (group entities such as trusts, companies and others that can exercise legal rights through the natural persons who are empowered to do so) and natural persons who are individuals recognised as living and sentient. Juristic persons such as companies are independent of the natural persons who administer their rights and vice versa. Natural persons are recognised from conception to death (death being defined as the death of the mind). Legal persons can exercises their rights with respect to legal objects. These are defined as corporeal things, immaterial things (such as intellectual property), personality (such as reputation) and performance. Legal persons can also have rights and obligations with respect to one another (either through the law or through contracts).

Law of status

Rights as envisioned in democratic states are not necessarily inalienable or inviolate. Rights are afforded according to a number of criteria.

• The first is the distinction between the living and the dead. Living are recognised as legal persons who have rights with respect to legal objects and other legal persons. The dead do not have the same rights. The bodies and graves of the dead are protected from desecration.
• The second is free and slave. Free people regardless of nationality have certain basic rights that slaves do not, although slaves are not viewed as legal objects (or property). Slaves can only be taken in combat from combatants who surrender as those who do not must be slain (Hamanian law presumes they are all adult males), women and children (combatant or not), from a country on whom the King has declared war.
• The third is subject and non-subjects of the Crown. Those who are subjects of the Crown include citizens of tributary nations of Hama whereas non-subjects are those who are not.
• The fourth is the the difference between citizens and non citizens of Hama. Subjects of the Crown of Hama are not automatically citizens of Hama. Citizenship is equivalent to being granted entry into the Hamanite ethnic group. Laws of naturalisation emphasise that one must be married to or descendant from a Hamanite (by birth or adoption). This is easier for women than men. Dual citizenship is not allowed. All Hamanites are automatically free and cannot be enslaved.
• The fifth is the difference between male and female. Gender and sex are treated as the same, static and permanent.
• The sixth is the difference between adult men and boys. To be a man, one must be initiated. A man is given the right to take a wife.
• The seventh is the difference between married men and unmarried men and the rights they have, mostly, in relation to women and each other.

Law of kin

The law determines how people are related. The communities in which people belong are as follows:

• A person must belong to a tribe. Membership is determined by birth or marriage. If a woman marries a man from another tribe (whether she is a foreigner or not), she belongs to that tribe. If a woman has a child by a man from another tribe, her children belong to that tribe. Belonging to a tribe grants one the protection, status, rights and obligations of members of that tribe. As a result, non-Hamanite men may not join a tribe, therefore they cannot be citizens. Adult male members can speak directly before and vote in convocations of men. They have the right to stand for selection to role of chief (which is mostly by combat or contest). Elder men (above 60) can sit on a special council of elders that has special decision making powers.
• A person should belong to a clan. A clan is a group of people who are related by marriage or blood. Children and wives of member men are automatically accepted. A clan is a more loose body in that the boundaries are less clearly defined. Usually the eldest male from the male line is the head of the clan. Clans are formed when a man's sons decide to break apart. In the past this was decided by combat. In the present, the sons can merely renounce their claim to be members of their clan and found their own. Some clans have advanced systems where they own property, have special rites and internal hierarchies.
• A person also belongs to a family. A family is formed of a man (and his wife or wives), his children (male and unmarried daughters) and grandchildren. When the patriarch dies, although filial ties remain, the family is dissolved although his sons keep his name.
• A person belongs to a household. The household is the most important and clearly defined social structure, followed only by the tribe. A household is comprised of a man, his wife(s), his children and slaves. He has many right in relation to them which will be discussed hereafter.

Law of the household and marriage

The household is so important that it has its own species of law. A man forms the basis of the household as a unit. By "man", it is meant "a male who has passed through initiation (i.e. who has been circumcised according to the law)". A man has the right to leave his parent's house and ask for a piece of land from his father on which he can build his own house and raise his children. He also has the right to a portion his father's livestock.

A household is not a household without a woman. This means that a man must at least be married to at least one wife before a household can be formed. We will discuss, shallowly, marriage law as well in this section. A man must request the woman he wishes to marry from her father or master if she is a slave, who must grant consent for such a union. Thereafter he must pay a price of livestock, gifts or land depending on her status. This is subject to negotiations with her father. Usually, young men ask their fathers or other men from their clan whom they trust to negotiate the bridal price on their behalf. After the price is paid (not merely agreed upon), the marriage is binding and the woman is a wife. Her mother or mistress if she was a slave also has the right to a portion of the bridal price.

The man has certain obligations towards his household:

• He must provide for the needs of his wife and their children. If he cannot adequately do so, he can ask his parents to support his wife and children while he finds the means to provide for them.
• He must protect the honour of his wife. If his wife has been disrespected, he has the duty to request a trial by combat. If it can be lawfully established (usually by the testimony of two others) that his wife was dishonoured, he can call one of his male relatives and engage in combat with either the man who disrespected her, or the father or husband or brother of the man who disrespected her. Conversely if his daughter or wife has disrespected another woman, he has the duty to stand in a trial by combat. More serious cases of misdemeanour are handled in other sections of this article.
• If his slave has been treated in a way that prevented them from being able to exercise their service or in a seriously criminal way, he has the right to request monetary compensation. He cannot request a trial by combat since slaves have no honour.
• If a criminal act has been done unto his slaves, children and wife, then the law takes a different course, discussed elsewhere in this article. More on the law of slaves in the section below.
• He has the duty to represent his children or wife before a sitting of men. This means he must deliver testimony on their behalf in court.
• He has other obligations as well, but these are less pertinent.

A man also has the right to be obeyed within his house and to create rules. He cannot create rules or expect obedience for an act which is socially repulsive or against the law. In a case where a man asks complicity to or demands obedience of an act which is socially repulsive or counter to the law, he rescinds the right to expect obedience and to punish those who disobey him. He has the right to administer corporal punishment to any member of his household as follows:

• He has the right to strike his wife and children with an open hand. The law clearly defines that if he strikes with a close fist or other object, he has breached the wadanu or sacredness of those whom he has struck and has committed a crime. If the wife or child retaliates with force, he has the right to disarm them and use a specially defined lash, but only for a certain number of lashes.
• He has the right to strike his slaves with a lash, but certain provisions are created in that he can only administer a certain number of lashes and there must be a witness to confirm that he has not grievously hurt or abused his slave.

There are other provisions governing members of a household:

• A man has the right to take another wife if his wife (or wives) grant consent. He cannot take another wife out of sexual desire. He has the right to take a woman in need and request to marry her: a slave who has been set free, a widow, a woman who was granted a divorce by the Court, a woman whose parents and lawful guardians are dead or presumed dead and any a woman who has escaped great suffering and loss, or a woman he has had sex with and was borne a child by (refer to section on the law of divorce) or if the woman has been suggested by his existing wives.
• If a man has children outside his marriage, they are all his legitimate children. He has the duty to support if they live with their mothers.

Law of divorce

The law of divorce is the termination of marriage.

A marriage can only be terminated by initiative of the woman under the following conditions:

• The wife or wives have the right to request a divorce from the court if the man had sex with and had children by this woman while he was married to her (or them).
• The wife has the right to request an order of separation if the man abused her or has failed in his core duties as a man (described above) or has committed a proven criminal act, in which case she may take her children and live with his brothers, parents or return to her parents. If the differences are declared irreconcilable, she may be granted a divorce.

In this scenario, he has the duty to support the children and compensate her (usually by giving her a portion of his property).

A marriage can only be terminated by the initiative of the man under the following conditions:

• If she agrees and has not been coerced to do so.
• If she has committed adultery. In this case, her family must return the bridal price that was paid.

Unlike a woman, he does not have the right to divorce her if she is proven to have committed a crime and thrown into prison.

In the event of a divorce, the man can only take custody if his children if:

• He has other wives prior to the divorce.
• His mother is willing to raise the children.
• And in both instances, he has can support them.
• He does not, however, have the right to bar his wife from seeing her children. If he does, a suit can be brought against him.

Law of Slaves

A person can only be a slave if they are a male combatant who has voluntarily surrendered or women who have been taken from a combat scenario where the King of Hama declared war on that nation. A Hamanite cannot be a slave. A slave can only be a slave for 7 years. After this time their master must let them go and given them their life's wages. Slaves taken outside of or kept longer than the framework of law are to be released immediately and compensated. If Hamanites are taken as slaves, the price of for this act is the life of their captor. Taking away the freedom of a Hamanite (unlawfully) is the same as forfeiting a life.

A slave is protected as follows:

• They cannot be asked to commit a crime. If they have been coerced into committing a crime, they can be granted their freedom from their master.
• They cannot be struck more than a prescribed number of times with a lash or with an object more brutal than a lash or where there are no witnesses or cannot be seen.
• They cannot be confined by binding by their master except under extreme circumstances such as attempting to escape.
• They cannot be starved of food or deprived of water, covering or clothing (but their needs come before those of their master, his wives and children).
• They cannot be denied the help of a doctor.