The Law on Licensed Houses of Companionship

Enacted under the Reign of King Marius Insula, in the Year 1156, by Decree of Parliament and Consent of the Crown

Preamble

By the will of the Crown and Parliament of the Great Isle Union, for the preservation of order, decency, and the regulation of trade within the cities and ports of the realm, be it declared lawful that the commerce of companionship and bodily service may be practiced within licensed establishments.

Forasmuch as the ungoverned practice of such trades brings vice, disorder, and the forsaking of children into the streets, it is ordained that such houses shall be bound by guild law and subject to the justice and taxation of the Union.

Article I — Of Lawful Practice

1. No person may offer or procure the service of companionship or the commerce of the body save within a licensed establishment, duly sanctioned under this law.
2. Such license shall be issued only through the Merchant Guilds of the respective cities and ports of the Union, who shall keep record of all license-holders and transmit said record yearly to the Crown’s tax office.
3. Any house operating without such guild license shall be considered unlawful and subject to closure, fine, and imprisonment of its keeper.

Article II — Of Guild Authority

1. The Merchant Guilds of each city shall hold authority over the issuance, renewal, and revocation of licenses for houses of companionship.
2. Each guild shall appoint an Inspector of Morals and Safety, whose duty shall be to ensure the observance of the standards set forth in this law.
3. The guilds shall collect due fees for licensure and remit to the royal treasury such portion as may be decreed by Parliament.

Article III — Of the Standards of the House

1. Every licensed house shall be of sufficient size and structure to accommodate its staff and patrons without crowding or hazard.
2. No chamber or room wherein the acts of companionship take place shall bear windows opening to the street, nor shall such windows, if they exist, remain unshuttered or uncovered during the conduct of business.
3. The premises shall be kept in cleanly and safe condition, and no person of lesser years or of unsound mind may be kept or employed therein.
4. The master or mistress of such house shall be answerable before the guild and the court for the behavior of their servants and the observance of these ordinances.

Article IV — Of Taxation and the Care of Orphans

1. All licensed houses of companionship shall pay unto the treasury of the Union a tax of five parts in a hundred (5 %) of their yearly profits.
2. This revenue shall be set aside in a Civic Trust for Orphans, administered by the guilds in concert with the city wardens and the local abbeys.
3. In any case where a child is abandoned or left orphaned by circumstance arising from the operation of such establishments, the costs of their care and upbringing shall be drawn from this trust.
4. Should any house be found to have directly abandoned or mistreated a child of its own, the master or mistress shall be fined thrice the yearly tax and face imprisonment at the court’s discretion.

Article V — Of Conduct and Protection

1. Violence, coercion, or enslavement within any licensed house shall be punished as crimes against the Crown.
2. The guards and wardens of the city shall afford protection to those within such houses as to any other lawful trade, and shall answer to the guild’s complaint if such protection is withheld.
3. No soldier, noble, or officer of the Crown may seize or abuse any person under the protection of this law without warrant of the court.

Article VI — Of Faith and Decency

1. Though the acts permitted herein be of the flesh, they are bound by law, order, and the oversight of the gods who witness all things.
2. Let none judge harshly the trade when it is governed rightly, nor use it to bring scandal upon the name of the Union.

Enactment

Thus is the Law on Licensed Houses of Companionship proclaimed and sealed under the authority of King Marius Insula,
in the Year of Union One Thousand One Hundred and Fifty-Six.

Given beneath the Royal Seal of House Insula, and witnessed by the signatures of the Merchant Guilds and the First Parliament of the Great Isle Union,
that trade may be ordered, the poor protected, and the streets kept in peace.

So decreed by the Grace of the Crown and under the eyes of the gods who govern the hearts of men.