On Sat, 27 May 2023 10:22:29 -0700, Jim Vassilakos - jim.vassilakos at
gmail.com (via tml list) <xxxxxx@simplelists.com> wrote to Freelance
Traveller:

>What happens when an active duty member of the Imperial military services
>runs afoul of local laws?
>
>My guess is that before the Imperium puts a base on a world, they make it
>sign a Status of Forces agreement, which protects certain
>Imperial personnel from prosecution. This, indeed, is perhaps what it means
>to be a Citizen of the Imperium. CotIs have legal protections that the rest
>of the population doesn't.

Noting that I'm not aware of any canon on the subject, my holding is, more
or less, yes. Client States usually do have a separate SoFA, but member
worlds usually have SoF defined standardly as part of the Agreement of
Accession.

>However, not all Imperial worlds have signed such agreements, and for some,
>the protections only exist within a certain territory, such as the Startown
>immediately outside the local Imperial military base or, in some cases, the
>starport.

This I disagree with. Accession includes SoFA. However, the SoFA isn't
uniform for all CotI. See summary of my take below. SoFA always covers
base, starport, startown, and cession to Imperial noble representative,
plus a radius of one day's travel in prevailing planetary mode of
transport; additional SoFA may be negotiated to cover more, up to entire
world. On balkanized worlds, SoFA is imposed world-wide without
negotiation.

>Such legal protections may extend to other sorts of Imperial citizens such
>as Imperial nobles, bureaucrats, and, of course, diplomats via
>Comprehensive Integration agreements. In some cases, albeit more rarely,
>they extend protections to the employees of megacorporations. Very rarely,
>and only when the world is desperate to attract interstellar commerce, do
>they extend to independent traders.

My holding is as follows:

Imperial Navy, Marines, Scouts: SoFA always applies to all personnel
Imperial Army: Personnel not on their homeworld are always covered.
Personnel in units considered to be in 'deployed' status are always
covered. Personnel on their homeworld are covered while performing duties,
but not while on leave, if the unit is not considered to be in 'deployed'
status.
Imperial Nobles, staff, and household: Always covered. (Imperial diplomats
are always considered to be attached to the staff of the local Imperial
noble.)
Imperial bureaucrats: Always covered if not on homeworld. On homeworld,
only covered while engaging in official duties.
Megacorporate employees: Negotiated by megacorp, not by Imperium.

The startown for the main planetary downport is generally treated as though
all offworlders are covered by SoFA. Locals have no special status in any
portion of startown that lies outside the extraterritoriality cession. The
local world's law enforcement has no official status within the ExT
cession, but starport security (which has technical jurisdiction) and
authorized contractors (which the SPA usually arranges for, since starport
security is, as usual, chronically understaffed) will generally cooperate
with planetary authorities for cases of serious felony. (IMTU, serious
felony generally covers what are generally held to be internationally-
extraditable crimes, ignoring policy based on possible penalties to be
imposed.)

>In cases where local prosecutorial immunity does exist, various law
>enforcement personnel and courts which are authorized by the Imperium to
>arrest and prosecute offenders will usually step in, taking custody of
>prisoners and trying them under the Imperial Military Code of Justice or
>other applicable laws depending on their status and specific offenses.

Where SoFA applies, yes.

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