The Astral Empire: Commoners (part 2)

(Disclaimer: the Abh are ultimately the work of Hiroyuki Morioka. This informal adaptation to the fourth edition of Dungeons and Dragons deviates significantly from the original. In fact, more than half of this post is pulled from thin air.)

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To clarify, from last time: "self-government" includes any situation in which non-Abh rule over non-Abh, anywhere from a feudal monarchy (with the lord as king) to a Roman oligarchy (with the lord as Caesar) to an otherwise democratic republic (with the lord as President-for-Life). The most permissive it gets is probably analogous to the modern-day UK, where (if I understand correctly, which I probably don't), the Queen theoretically has broad legal powers but in practice has little effect on Parliament. In no case do any of these 'secondary' governments have any recognition in Imperial law other than as extensions of the will of the lord of the demesne (which requires the lord to intervene on their behalf to claim that recognition).

A serf (soss) also does have the right of residence: they may not be exiled. This is typically equally an obligation, as a serf does not have the right of travel.

Citizens (laimh) have other rights guaranteed to them: most notably, the right of departure — no lord may hold a citizen against his will for any reason, though she may banish him from her realm. A citizen does not have the right of residence; they must typically pay a yearly rent, in addition to any taxes. (Barons, who often have the greatest interest in gaining new residents, will typically have the lowest rents. A lord is under no inherent legal obligation to make the rent fair in any sense, however.) A citizen may pledge fealty to a lord, becoming a serf, in order to gain the right of residence.

In theory, a citizen also has the right of appeal to the Justices of the Kingdom; in practice this is not always very useful, as the law and the judges alike typically give Abh the benefit of the doubt over commoners. (They can be counted on to enforce written and witnessed contracts, however.)