Adventure and Torts

[Kilgs]

I realize torts will be the subject of a future column but this article gave me a quickie idea of an adventure...

erbian vampire hunters prevent Milosevic come-back
-Drive 3ft stake through dictator's black heart
By Lester Haines → More by this author
Published Tuesday 6th March 2007 14:05 GMT

Serbian vampire hunters have acted to prevent the very remote
possibility that former dictator Slobodan Milosevic might stage a
come-back - by driving a three-foot stake through his heart.

According to Ananova, the politically-motivated Van Helsings, led by
Miroslav Milosevic (no relation), gave themselves up to cops after
attacking the deceased despot in his grave in the eastern town of
Pozarevac. Milosevic popped his clogs back in 2006, while on trial in
a UN war crimes tribunal for various unsavoury activities connected
with the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia.

Miroslav Milosevic said "he and his fellow vampire hunters acted to
stop the former dictator returning from the dead to haunt the
country". His team explained that the wooden stake had been "driven
into the ground and through the late president's heart".

Slobodan Milosevic's Socialist Party of Serbia naturally condemned the
desecration, while his daughter-in-law Milica Gajic said she "planned
to sue the vampire hunters and accused the police of failing to
protect the grave properly". ®

Would medieval societies have a duty to ward against the undead in municipal graveyards?

1. Players are hired to guard a tomb or a funeral from vampire-hunters/grave robbers/cultists and they fail. The family sues them in civil court for breach of care... players have to defend themselves. Or strike out against the interlopers to redress the harm.

2. Players are hired to ensure Final Death for a nasty sot. Get caught and are forced to defend themselves by claiming the (rarely-used) defense of "He was going to rise from the grave!". Requires them to investigate for evidence that the individual was a vampire or bound to become one.

Just some thoughts

[Mirkady]

Well, quickly...

Originally Posted by Kilgs

Would medieval societies have a duty to ward against the undead in municipal graveyards?

Possibly - presumably depends on the scale of the problem and the offical attitude towards the undead.

1. Players are hired to guard a tomb or a funeral from vampire-hunters/grave robbers/cultists and they fail. The family sues them in civil court for breach of care... players have to defend themselves. Or strike out against the interlopers to redress the harm.

If they are hired, wouldn't they be sued in contract not tort?

Incidently, the concept of duty of care in contract appears to have developed relatively late - around the fourteenth century - and as an indirect result of the Black Death. Whether such a concept would have developed in your gameworld is uncertain, therefore.

2. Players are hired to ensure Final Death for a nasty sot. Get caught and are forced to defend themselves by claiming the (rarely-used) defense of "He was going to rise from the grave!". Requires them to investigate for evidence that the individual was a vampire or bound to become one.

Could be amusing.