Corporate Law - Aztech law?, what is it all about? Options

[FriendoftheDork]

OK, we've heard it all - megacorps have extraterritoriality and UCAS laws don't apply to anyone inside the Aztechnology pyramid or the Renraku Arcology (before deus).

So what laws does apply? Well there's corporate law, probably laws regarding corporations issed from the Corporate Court, but what laws regulate corporate citizens? What rights does UCAS citizens have on Aztech land, or Ares land for that matter?

Ok I realize you can't really know the entire system of law, that would take a lifetime just to invent if not read (most countries legal systems are vastly complex), but to have some general ideas would be nice. For instance both the BBB and various scourcebooks have given me some idea of UCAS law (heavily based off current american laws), and even in 2070 there is something called due process and rights (flouted at times, but still there). (I really use too much paranthesis don't I?)

So what impression have you got of the internal laws of certain megacorps from scourcebooks and fiction (old or new)?

Well from the way certain corps are described their laws could be similar to any despotic state, but some factors in the game world makes this seems unlikely to me. First of all, although megacorps has the power of nations, they don't have the amount of citizens or land a strong nation usually has. Instead, they rely mostly on business with citizens of other nations and corps as well as their own. Since they are dependent on people to buy their stuff, they need to invest heavily in propag... erhh good public relations. Aztechnology, the probably the corp with the worst rep among shadowrunners has legendary "spin doctors" (from man and machine 3rd ed) that probably fools enough people.

So given that the megas actually care what people think about them (the people who can buy their stuff at least), it makes sense for them to have nice sounding internal laws (that still gives their stockholders and exectutives alot of power), and do things like charity etc. Don't corps today already do this? It's not that far shot between a commercial and propagand after all.

But back to the issue.. if any UCAS citizen walking the halls of Aztech's pyramid and buying stuff could be gunned down by any Aztech citizen or even a high-up executive, the public relations with UCAS would drop pretty fast (more than it already has), so it makes sense to give even foreigners some rights. Besides, dead people can't shop :)

What else... i figure corp laws are pretty much similar to the laws in modern societies today - similar but with a few exceptions (important ones). The constitution of Iran today is not that different than the US one (but the practice is), and when you look at western european constitutions their almost identical apart from some being monarchies and some republics. Basic human rights such as freedom of speech, freedom from opression etc. will probably exist in most if not all top 10 corps. Remember, just there being a law doesen't mean a government can't break it and get away with it.

But the fact remains that most corps don't want people to know about inethical research, political murders, and excessive polution - things shadowrunners sometimes are sent to expose (to their employer). Sure, Lone Star or the feds can't start arresting Aztech executives for anything on their land, but the media is bound to hear about it and sales WILL drop when such a scandal ocurrs - besides forces inside the corp itself will probably want action to be taken, if none other than shareholders.

Ok It's 8am and I've been up all night so I might have been repeating myself a bit here, but I think I'm done justifying the fact that corps have laws to, and not just "pay tax and obey your superviser."

So, what do you think? What laws have to read about, or what do you assume is common?How different would Ares law be from UCAS law?