Magic and the law

[Yqatuba]

Does it say in any of the books what the laws are in general with regards to magic (in any of the official countries?) Specifically, do you need some kind of license to cast magic? Also, is casting detrimental spells (such as entangle or ray of enfeeblement) considered assault or whateveer (I would assume so, throwing an egg at someone is considered assault even though it doesn't do damage.) Finally, what about charm and other mind control spells? I would guess they are illegal except maybe in emergencies (like charming someone to make them stop robbing a store.)

[Bjørn Røyrvik]

Glantri outlaws all divine magic and worship of Immortals, Minrothad requires casting licenses, the Northern Reaches dislike arcane magic (even if there is no unifying law for the whole area). Most places assume that any detrimental spell that someone is subjected to against their will counts as assault. Details are up to GM's,since no one can be bothered to write up a complete legal code, and not all countries even have a universal, detailed legal code.

Mind control is always a tough one. Proving it is the hard bit, but few people approve of the idea of being mentally controlled, so even if there aren't any specific laws most societies would frown on that and punish enchanters harshly, especially if used to force others to break the law.

[MrCharisma]

This is all GM-fiat territory. This will depend entirely on the world your chaeacters inhabit.

In Golarion there are laws in certain parts of the world, but as Bjørn Røyrvik pointed out the laws in Golarion vary wildly depending on region. Your best bet is to look up countries/cities on the wiki's and see what they say.

[RainOfSteel]

In Golarian books? Not much detail on criminal uses of magic that I recall. Mystara books had some, as listed by Bjørn Røyrvik. Forgotten Realms regional products sometimes had detailed legal codes, like FR1 Waterdeep and the North, though spell usage was not spelled out, illegal outcomes could be be handled as listed, but spells causing mind control were not listed at all.

[Yqatuba]

Something I keep forgetting to ask: are divination spells usually allowed in courts or no? I would guess no for most of them as they only have a certain percent chance of being right (Imagine if, in real life, someone discovered some new kind of evidence which only was accurate 75 percent of the time. There's no way it would be permitted.)

[Scavion]

Zone of Truth is probably common in courts. Creating undead as well as the summoning of evil outsiders is probably against the law in most good or neutral nations.

Mind Control is probably pretty touchy but a DC25 Sense Motive can detect if someone is under an enchantment or DC15 if it is the more overt Dominate.

[Captain Zoom]

Yqatuba wrote:

throwing an egg at someone is considered assault even though it doesn't do damage.

Tell that to the $1000 bodyshop bill I had to pay for the egg thrown into the side of my 2 day old car while I was driving around (happened about 12 years ago). It made a noticeable dent. And no, it was not hard boiled - just a raw egg. My recollection is that a large part of the bill was restoring the paint and protective finish after they removed the dent.