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Huzsan legal system

Huzsan legal system has two levels, the 'panhuzsan'; one and the clan one. Certain things are decided on the royal level, but most are regulated inside the clans. The rule is that the clans cannot overturn the Akbni's codices. So all inner regulations must comply with the law published by the royal bureaucrats. The Red Queen's offices do not frivolously come up with new laws though. A lot of the new regulations that have got passed over the years had been discussed and negotiated for months or even years with all the clans, because they affect all the clans.

Huzsa as a political entity was founded in year 1 (the year at the beginning of the comic is 1034) on three core codices (called the Initial Laws, Basic Laws, Founding Codices or just Three Codices), which regulate the basic structure of the union and the relationships between the clans.



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The Citizen Codex

This codex describes who is a Huzsan citizen, who deserves the protection of the Sisterhood and has all the privileges of being an independent free adult.



Citizens

Basically people are Huzsan if they belong to one of the clans. Most members of the clan wear bracelets with the symbol of the clan which work as easy identification. There are a few ways how one can become a member of the clan.

* One can be born into a clan when one's mother is a member of the clan. This one is the most common and obvious.

* One can be an orphan within the clan territory. This one is tricky. It is usually applied to babies or toddlers who are found unattended or whose parents are known to be dead or enslaved for life. Unless some other family members are easily reachable or present these children are sent to the orphanage and given citizenship of the clan. This is because these children often cannot provide any reliable information concerning their living relatives. And on top of that they wouldn't be able to get to these relatives on their own even if they were provided with resources to do so.

But it can also be applied to older children. Older children are actually usually asked what they want to happen. They may receive a citizenship or they may remain the members of their original clan and try to get back to it which depending on the particular circumstances may or may not be easy. If them reaching their own clan on their own seems impossible then they may be forced to join the new clan. Children are dependants and their well-being is the responsibility of adults. If a child’s clan in close by and the said child can be easily transported there by for instance joining a caravan then they are usually allowed to go back without any issues. However if getting them to their original clan would be costly and uncertain then the grown ups may and often do decide against it. Allowing the child to go and therefore risking their life would be considered highly irresponsible and morally wrong. The child needs to wait until they become an adult to go back. Until then they’re subject to standard adoption laws and procedures.

* One may petition the agni to be granted citizenship of the clan. If one is an adult and one wants to relocate one may officially ask to be accepted into the clan. It depends on the policies of the given clan whether it's easy to do or not.



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Dependants

But being a member of the clan does not give one all the privileges. For that one needs not to be a dependant. Dependants are people who do not have the freedom to fully exercise their will. The dependants are:

* uninitiated children - regardless if they have parents or are orphans. They receive their full rights after initiation.

* short term slaves - people who have committed some crimes and couldn't pay the appropriate fines for their transgressions. They are sentenced to work without pay. They regain their full rights after they have served their sentence. Short term slaves receive non-permanent tattoos on their chest and their back where the period of their punishment is written as well as whom are they supposed to serve as their sentence.

* lifelong slaves - people who have committed serious crimes or are repeating offenders. They are sentenced to lifelong hard labour. They never regain their rights. They receive permanent tattoos on their chest and their back which state whom are they supposed to serve as their sentence. There is a discussion among the Huzsan lawyers whether such people are still citizens or do they become guests.



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Children

People who are uninitiated are considered to be children. There are two stages of childhood legally identified in Huzsa.

Little children

The first one starts at birth and continues until the child becomes an adolescent. At that stage children are simply referred to as children or little children or the little (ones). For girls this stage lasts until their first period and for boys until they are 12 years old. The little children are completely dependant on their parents and also their parents are fully responsible for both their safety and any crimes the little children may commit. If a little child commits a crime that would result in the death penalty if an adult was the culprit the parents usually aren’t executed instead but not all clans follow these lenient ways.

Adolescents aka fringes

After that comes adolescence. It lasts five years until initiation after which people become adults. All boys are initiated at the age of 17 during the first initiation ceremony after their 17th birthday. The boys’ initiations are in the 3rd, 8th and 13th months of the Huzsan calendar. The girls become adolescent when they have their first period. And from that date 5 years are counted. Girls are initiated during the first initiation after the 5 years pass. Girls’ initiations are in the 1st, 4th, 7th, 10th and 13th months of the Huzsan calendar.

Adolescents are usually referred to as fringes due to the hairstyle they all have to sport by law. Fringes have more rights than little children. For instance fringes can start their professional training by becoming a trainee (ses u). Their parents usually are made accountable and have to pay for the fringe's crimes. And this includes the death penalty. However, the fringes themselves also face some consequences of their actions. If they commit particularly heinous crimes and especially if they re-offend they may be isolated until initiation and executed right after. In some clans they may also get a suspended sentence which can catch up with them later in life.

Still fringes are children and they are the responsibility of their family and the clan if the family is gone. They should be supported by their family biological or adoptive one or the clan should help them through the temple.



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Guests

People who do not belong to any clan are legally referred to as 'guests', but commonly they are more often referred to with pejorative words like 'barbarians' or 'savages' or some slang slurs. Some 'guests' are welcome and some aren't. If one comes with peaceful intentions one receives an official necklace or non-permanent tattoo on the arm which gives one a 'welcome guest' status. This means that one can travel around the clan which issued this status and do business there.

People who come uninvited are considered trespassers for which there is punishment.

There are only three punishments for guests – this means both 'unwanted guests' regardless of what they were doing at the time of capture and 'welcome guests' who have committed some crime. For the things Huzsans would be punished with death the guests also get the capital punishment. In case of lesser crimes guests can either pay a fine and be expelled with a permanent or temporary ban to re-enter the Sisterhood. Or they can be sentenced to lifelong slavery. They usually don't even get to plead their case in front of a judge. Basically if you're not Huzsan your rights don't matter.





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