Law

This skill represents knowledge of
law codes and jurisprudence. A suc-
cessful roll lets you remember,
deduce, or figure out the answer to a
question about the law. Few legal
questions have clear-cut answers,
however – even an expert will hedge
his advice!
You must specialize. There are two
general classes of specialty:
• The laws of a particular political
region (e.g., Canada or France) within
a specific field (constitutional, con-
tract, criminal, police, etc.). Examples:
Law
(British
Criminal),
Law
(Canadian Constitutional), and Law
(U.S. Contract).
• A specialized body of law not
associated with a political region.
Examples: Law (Catholic Canon), Law
(International), and Law (Space).
Specialties within the same region,
such as Law (British Criminal) and
Law (British Police), or field, such as
Law (British Criminal) and Law
(French Criminal), default to one
another at -4. If both region and field
differ, the default is -6 or worse.
In some times and places, a Quick
Contest of Law (Criminal) between
the defense and prosecution will
determine the outcome of a trial. In
others, Law functions as an Influence
skill (see Influence Rolls, p. 359) used
to sway the rulings of the judge.
Law enforcers nearly always have a
point or two in Law (Police) for their
region. This represents knowledge of
“proper procedure” when it comes to
arrests, evidence handling, interroga-
tion, etc.