Conclusions on Gorean Slave Law: Absolute Ownership and Legal Dehumanization
Gorean Slave Law is a brutal, comprehensive, and widely accepted institution that serves as a cornerstone of society. It is designed to render enslaved individuals absolute property, ensuring their total subservience to a master who wields unquestionable authority, supported by the full power of law and societal tradition.
I. Fundamental Legal Status: Property, Not Person
Dehumanization: Slaves are explicitly and repeatedly declared to be "not legally a person" but rather an "animal," a "beast," an "object," or an "article of property."
They have no standing before the law; they are "rightless goods." No Rights or Appeal: A slave has "no rights, or appeal, within the law." They are "utterly and unqualifiedly at the disposition of their masters." Their condition is "unquestioned and categorical."
Lack of Identity: A slave "does not have a name in his own right"; their owner can name or rename them at will, or leave them unnamed. They are "without caste" and "without citizenship."
Absolute Ownership: The master's power over their slave is absolute. The master "may do whatever he wishes with her," including mutilating or killing, with impunity. The slave belongs to the master "completely," in all the "fullness of law, in all the fullness of culture, in all the fullness of nature."
What is given to the slave (e.g., a coin) is legally the property of the master.
A slave may only have "one master" by law, even if it's the state or a corporation.
The slave is owned as "the whole slave," not merely parts.
II. Methods and Confirmation of Enslavement
Legal Reduction: Individuals are "reduced to slavery" by legal processes (e.g., through debt, as state property, for crimes committed).
Explicit Consent (Sometimes): In some contexts (e.g., "capture rights" or specific self-submission laws), a free woman may, "of her own free will," pronounce a "formula of enslavement" upon herself. However, once pronounced, the enslavement is "absolute" and irrevocable by law.
Physical Markers: Brands and collars are explicit legal and institutional markers of slave status. They are "fixed visibly and clearly," making a slave's bondage "always manifest." They serve "identificatory purposes" and are "recommended by Merchant Law." The denial of veiling for slaves is also legally imposed.
Capture Rights: Saving a woman's life or "theft/capture" can immediately confer legal title over her as a slave.
Formalization: Slavery is not merely a social custom; it is "a legalized fact," "institutionalized," "sanctioned in both custom and law," and "enforced with all the sanctions of the law."
Legal papers confirm status (e.g., slave papers with fingerprints and measurements).
III. Life and Limitations of the Enslaved
No Escape: "There is absolutely no escape for her." "The law, the culture, and such, are not set up to permit it." The most a slave can hope for is a change of masters.
Speech Restrictions: Slaves often operate under "gag law," which forbids speech unless specific moans or whimpers are allowed. Dissenting or insulting men is a capital offense.
Testimony Under Torture: In Gorean law courts, the testimony of slaves is commonly taken under torture, based on the theory that this guarantees truthfulness (though in reality, it often extracts whatever the judge wishes to hear).
Fixed Nature: A slave has a "recognized nature, condition, status, and identity, which she is incapable of altering or qualifying in any way whatsoever." This status is "irremediably, incontrovertibly, in the very reality of this world."
Peril of Misconduct: Even minor infractions (e.g., insulting men, wearing garments of free women, failing to understand status) can lead to severe punishment or death.
"Collar Cancels the Past": Upon being enslaved, an individual's past life (including crimes as a free person) is erased, and they begin a new legal existence as property.
Physical Purpose: A slave's body is "public" (like a kaiila's or tarsk's). They are valued for "labors she can perform and the manifold pleasures, intimate and otherwise, which she must provide."
No Access to Legal Avenues: Slaves have no standing before the law, cannot approach law courts, and cannot question their master's authority.
IV. Distinction from Free Women
Fundamental Divide: The distinction between a free woman and a slave is "extremely important," "never unclear or confused." A free woman is a "person," "citizen," with "standing before the law" and a "Home Stone." A slave is "property, an animal."
Appearance: Slaves are distinctly marked (brand, collar, specific garmenture) and denied veils, while free women are often veiled and dress to conform to "canons of taste, custom, convention, and sometimes of law," to please themselves without appearing as slaves.
In conclusion, Gorean Slave Law is an absolute, systematic dehumanization, reducing individuals to mere chattel. It is ingrained in every aspect of society, from personal identity to commerce, and is enforced with unwavering power to maintain the rigid social order of Gor.
- Kati Evans
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