nobility

[Condottiere]

Corruption exists in all societies, it's a question of risk and reward.

Where bureaucrats are recruited from the best and brightest, and receive benefits equivalent to that enjoyed by the private sector, the the incentive to break the law is practically non-existent, especially when combined active vigilance and draconian punishment; doesn't mean that they wouldn't do favours or bend the rules a bit, especially within the old boys network.

The military industrial complex seems to get away with it, in the upper echelon.

 

[kilemall]

You would be surprised on how cheap favors can be purchased in the Real World.

Saying any more or specifying a particular area would probably get me banned. Sufficient to say that you do not have any real understanding of corruption.

I believe I do, having seen some of the pettier yet destructive versions of it including Mafiosi driven events before I graduated high school.

Indeed, the highpop/highbribery worlds of Traveller have it as a low level daily occurrence, much like many real world locations and times.

None of that disabuses how much a favor can be worth, even if it is it not formally denominated in exchange of currency.

 

[Sir Brad]

The Nobility, Imperial Bureaucracy and Imperial Military are usually separate to the local goverment, if the local goverment treads on your Rights as Imperial Citizens or defaults on their end on the social contract you can go to the Nobles, Imperial Bureaucracy or Imperial Military. Thats kind of what they are for apart from dealing with Imperial Business.

 

[kilemall]

Are there enumerated Imperial citizen rights? Beyond slavery and I'm assuming some sort of interstellar trade contract law, I haven't heard of it.

 

[Whipsnade]

Are there enumerated Imperial citizen rights?

Beyond the prohibition on chattel slavery, there are none I've ever heard of. There are plenty of rights of various types in people's various TUs, but nothing in canon.

The idea of Imperial "citizens" comes more from the title of that Supplement than anything else.

 

[mike wightman]

The Nobility, Imperial Bureaucracy and Imperial Military are usually separate to the local goverment, if the local goverment treads on your Rights as Imperial Citizens or defaults on their end on the social contract you can go to the Nobles, Imperial Bureaucracy or Imperial Military. Thats kind of what they are for apart from dealing with Imperial Business.

The idea that member world populations are all Imperial citizens is a grand one, but not backed up by the facts we have.
Imperial government begins at the sub-sector level - there may be local Imperial nobles who have some sort of role, but it is certainly not the enrichment of peoples lives of the improvement of quality of life. It is to make sure the taxes are paid.

Member world governments can treat their populace in any way they see fit, and the Imperium will turn a blind eye so long as the tax revenue and trade is not affected.

It's the main reason Dulinor shot Strephon, he believed the Imperium should be more interventionist and should develop citizen potential.

 

[Whipsnade]

The idea that member world populations are all Imperial citizens is a grand one, but not backed up by the facts we have.

True, but the idea that an Imperial "citizenry" complete with enumerated rights exists is a recurring one because many people cannot quite comprehend anything else.

 

[aramis]

Beyond the prohibition on chattel slavery, there are none I've ever heard of. There are plenty of rights of various types in people's various TUs, but nothing in canon.

The idea of Imperial "citizens" comes more from the title of that Supplement than anything else.

Better reread your T4 stuff and CT JTAS issues...

there is an implied right to rescue in space - T4 Milieux 0 Campaign, p81, Signal GK

The Preamble of the Warrant of Restoration includes within the imperial goals, "safe travel among the stars" and "the individual pursuit of personal betterment" both of which can be seen as predicates to later granted rights.
Article I of the Warrant of restoration prohibits Imperial Citizens' Rights from being trampled by any Imperial Member World, and also makes any "... living recognized sentient creature native to or naturalized by any member world, or any living recognized sentient creature swearing fealty to the Imperium directly."
Article VI notes that chattle slavery is flat out prohibited.
Article VII implies some interesting quasi-rights - Extraterritorial properties...

• may not be entered from on world nor exited to the world without the local government's permission
• may not be entered nor exited without the territory's imperial governor's permission

Note that it does not give the governor permission to evict people present, only to hold them there if he chooses. Same for stuff.

And some CT sources also grant rights...
JTAS 14, article High Justice notes that Imperial crimes get a nine-judge panel.
And... it gives

3. The high justice of the Imperium, intended to prevent revolt against Imperial authority, to keep the peace among member worlds, subsectors, and sectors; uphold the rights of sentient beings; and preserve commerce between worlds, subsectors and sectors. High justice is enforced by the lmperial Navy, Army and Marines, often assisted by the Security Branch of the Operations Office of the IISS.​

and later in the article...

Major crimes can be combated by all three levels of law enforcement, and prosecuted by all three levels of court. Violators are sometimes subject to capital punishment.
Major crimes normally prosecuted by local authorities include murder, assault,
robbery, grand theft, illegal use of psionics, forgery, terrorism, and rebellion.
Crimes normally subject to subsector justice include the unlawful introduction of high technology to low technology worlds, the violation of a planetary interdiction, possession and/or use of nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons, and war crimes as defined in the lmperial rules of war.
The prosecutors and high courts of the lmperium concern themselves with crimes that would affect worlds in more than one subsector of the realm. These include the capture, transportation, and possession of slaves, piracy, the murder of Imperial officers, officials, or members of lmperial nobility, theft of lmperial property, treason, and conspiracy to commit treason against the lmperium (note that treason against a planetary government is a local crime).​

If it can be prosecuted in an imperial court, it's an imperial crime, which implies a right to be free from being the victim of same.

So there's at least a strongly implied minimal right to integrity of body, property, and public safety.

 

[flykiller]

The idea of Imperial "citizens" comes more from the title of that Supplement than anything else.

"citizens of the imperium" sounds so much better than "chattel of the imperium" ....

True, but the idea that an Imperial "citizenry" complete with enumerated rights exists is a recurring one because many people cannot quite comprehend anything else.

social standing

 

[mike wightman]

Lofty ideals back in the day but by 1105 totally trampled on. And there is no mention of any Imperial agency willing to intervene at the local level if Imperial citizen 'human rights' are violated
A1 - senator locked up, with subsector wide cover up by the offer of a reward to find him
A1 - adventuring party locked up with no trial
A2 - kidnapping of intelligent aliens, incarceration and experimentation on said aliens
TTA - absolutely nutty world government laws that the Imperium does nothing to curtail.

 

[Whipsnade]

Better reread your T4 stuff

T4 is well after the fact. Jeff wrote the Warrant with certain notions firmly in mind.

For whatever reason, by the time of TNE and T4 the Imperium had been cleaned up. Cleaned up so much in fact, that the retcons make little sense when compared to earlier descriptions.

Mike's post is entirely correct. The 3I got a face lift.

and CT JTAS issues...

High Justice points to rights which exists firmly on the Imperial side of the extrality line and while studiously ignoring the rights of the rest of the Imperial "citizenry" living, for example, on the other side of the extrality line in the Ward of Vision's paradise.

As for extrality border crossings under the control of both the local world and the Imperial governor, that means much less than you'd imagine. All it does is give the local Imperial governor a legal rationale to deny extradition back to the locals; i.e. One of the Ward's citizens makes it across the DMZ to the starport and the Ward wants them back.

 

[Sir Brad]

There are how things are supposed to work and how things really work. if the Nobles & Bureaucrats are too tied up running local Imperial Reservations and normal Imperial business they may not know anything is wrong till their are Rioters at the gates of the Imperial High Commotion. also most Imperial Citizens don't know they have Rights as Imperial Citizens, because they have those same right as Planetary Citizens and it may never have occurred to them that their is a duplication of rights. other worlds keep the Citizens in the dark about their Imperial Rights for their own ends.

provided the Nobles & Bureaucrats are kept occupied, the taxes & trade keep flowing and the proles aren't storming the High Commotion most worlds can get away with almost anything they want.