Admiralty law

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Admiralty law is the name for laws that are applied galaxy-wide, regardless of local jurisdiction, and is usually enforced by the USDF and other Security forces if available. If accused of these crimes, there must be a trial by one's peers, held either by a voting Galactic Senate member state, or by a nation who has agreed to join the Joint Security Convention on the Law of Space, also known as the Space Law Treaty (SLT). As such, entities like the United Federation, most of Skrell space, and even the Unathi Hegemony are compliant with the terms of the treaty, while corporations like NanoTrasen, or enemies of SolGov like the Ares Confederation, or neutral parties such as the Auream Imperium are ineligible.

If a suspect is captured on these charges, they are to be held in prison until the trial can commence. Since it is impractical for small outposts such as the NSB Adephagia to hold prisoners until that time, the USDF should be contacted in the event of a violation so as to transfer the prisoners to a better equipped facility as soon as possible.

To understand how to go about a proper arrest, or other clarifications such a Prisoner Rights, Alert Levels, and more, see Standard Operating Procedure.

Joint Security Convention on the Law of Space

Originally Established by the United Systems of Sol Central, the Space Law treaty forbids the following acts in all sectors of interstellar space, whether known or uncharted. These are unalienable rights intended to preserve the well being of all innocent life forms.

No.	Crime	Description	Notes	Sentence
§SL01	Piracy	To seize property that is under the ownership or care of another entity.	Any artificial object or its contents found in any uninhabited region of space cannot be legally claimed by you unless it has absolutely no living beings present to claim ownership of it, and is unable to operate under its own power. You can legally salvage a ship or its cargo only if it was already abandoned by the time you find it. Repossessing property that was previously stolen from you (or a company you represent) does not count toward this. If you otherwise believe the cargo was stolen, but do not know the owner, fax SolGov to make a claim to find out if you must return the property (in such case you are entitled to a reward), or if you may keep the property for yourself.	5-20 years imprisonment.
§SL02	Trespassing	To enter property that is under the ownership or care of another entity without valid permission to do so.	Intention is important in this scenario. If the intention is to seize property, then it's piracy. If there's no malicious intent, then it's just trespassing.	$4,000 in fines, up to 1 year imprisonment.
§SL02	Trespassing	To enter property that is under the ownership or care of another entity without valid permission to do so.	Intention is important in this scenario. If the intention is to seize property, then it's piracy. If there's no malicious intent, then it's just trespassing.	$4,000 in fines, or up to 1 year imprisonment.
§SL03	Violent Mutiny	Commandeering a ship through violent or otherwise destructive means.	Threatening to cause severe damage to the ship or crew unless control is handed over falls under this. However, it may be justified in situations wherein the former command staff had created a direct and immediate peril upon the safety of the crew by way of incompetence.	5-20 years imprisonment.
§SL04	Grand Sabotage	Causing severe damage to a ship and/or it's property without intention of seizing it.	Destroying or disabling a ship's power source, or engines, or other vital systems such as life support. Creating hull breaches also falls under this. If crew members are severely harmed, see terrorism.	A fine covering the cost of repairs, or up to 10 year imprisonment.
§SL05	Slavery	Keeping a sentient being in detainment without proper remuneration or appreciation for services rendered.	You cannot hold someone against their will and force them to do labor. Holding a prisoner in the brig is fine. Allowing a prisoner to do labor as an alternative to prison time is also fine. Forcing a prisoner to perform labor is not legal, and is considered slavery. It must be voluntary so long as it's unpaid, even if the worker is a legitimate prisoner.	5-20 years imprisonment.
§SL06	Illegal Waste Dumping	Improper disposal of chemical, biological, or radioactive agents.	Hazardous materials must be appropriately disposed of appropriately. USDF guidelines dictate that jettisoning garbage on a deorbital trajectory with a star is the most ideal method, to ensure complete obliteration of garbage materials. If the illegal dumping results in the destruction of an ecosystem, see Crimes Against the Galaxy.	Between $5,000 to $50 million in fines, depending on the danger and volume of materials.
§SL07	Use of Inhumane Weapons	Use of chemical, biological, radioactive agents with the intention to cause harm.	Releasing toxic chemicals (such as phoron), bioweapons (such as viruses), or any radioactive materials into an inhabited area is considered a violation of this law. If the target is not military, see also Terrorism below.	5-20 years imprisonment. Possibly execution.
§SL08	Terrorism	Like grand sabotage, but done with the explicit intent to do harm civilians.	Holding hostages, causing breaches in populated civilian areas, or otherwise committing acts intended to cause mass casualties among civilian populations. For serious destruction that does not target or harm civilians, see Grand Sabotage.	5-20 years imprisonment. Possibly execution.
§SL09	Unprovoked Military Action	Performing violent acts, or otherwise using military equipment on or towards actors that showed no intent or performed no actions that could reasonably be said to warrant such a response.	Performing unprovoked military raids of other craft without any harm to the crew still falls under this, even if no crew are harmed.	Punishment to be determined by the victim party, up to and including execution.
§SL10	Crimes Against the Galaxy	Any act that needlessly harms or potentially harms lifeforms within a previously undiscovered ecosystem.	The Interstellar Conservation Law of 2476 explicitly forbids hunting, polluting, bombing, weapons testing, eradicating, and other activities deemed detrimental of undiscovered or newly discovered species. This includes unsanctioned construction. Before such activities may begin on new worlds, any findings must be documented with the Society of Universal Cartographers, and then the activity must be permitted by the Environmental Protection Agency under SolGov. Blowing up planets, even those thought uninhabited, is also forbidden.	Between $50 million to $100 billion in fines, depending on severity of the destruction.
§SL11	Crimes Against Sentient Life	Any act that deliberately targets and harms members of a sentient species.	Basically anything forbidden by Crimes Against the Galaxy, except it's being done to life forms intelligent enough to understand what genocide is.	Execution.

OOC Notes

Breaking Admiralty Law might result in your character being temporarily or permanently removed from the game. However, there's so few chances for you to even attempt to break these laws that this will probably never happen outside of events, especially considering NanoTrasen has its own laws to deal with most offenses, specifically because they don't want the USDF involved in their affairs.