The United States was the first country to recognize vampires as 'people' with rights. The Addison vs. Clarke court case recognized that vampires were 'alive' and gave them legal rights to be citizens though they do not yet have the right to vote.

Vampires as legal citizens are subject to taxes, and there is a movement to give them the right to vote - it is still in the works during CotD.

At the beginning of Guilty Pleasures this law had been in effect for approximately two years. The US was experiencing a large volume of immigration requests from vampires all over the world.

Many nuances dealing with inheritance and ownership as a result of this decision were still being worked out in the courts.

Near the beginning of the series the UK becomes the second country to legally recognize vampires as citizens.

Because of their ability to enthral people and their strength, incarcerating vampires is near impossible. Therefore, the sentence for most infractions of the rights of other humans is death - execution. Once a vampire has been proven to have broken a law, a writ of execution is issued and the vampire is hunted down by either law enforcement or a licensed vampire executioner. Once issued, a writ remains in effect until the vampire is destroyed or the writ is rescinded.



Brewster's Law

A Senator's daughter was attacked and killed. He has tabled legislation granting greater authority to Vampire Executioners and also making vampires illegal again.

This debate is still before congress. The Council has decreed that there will be no fighting among the US based vampires while this is being debated. The punishment for offenders will be severe.

Gaia's Law

(tKD) must have an ambulance available when any remains are found?

Miscellaneous

Before vampires were legalized, there were people called Vampire Hunters or Vampire Slayers. These people were usually asked to take care of a known vampire - there was no need for a permit, they could be killed on sight. When the law came in, Vampire Hunters either became murderers or Vampire Executioners who could not kill a vampire without an official death warrant to kill a specific vampire. To get a warrant, the vampire would have to be classed as a danger to society. The lowest number of people drained before a kill warrant was given was 5, and the highest was 23.

A law that was passed a few weeks before CotD is aimed at overzealous executioners. If a person is found transporting or carrying a lot of holy water, many blessed crosses or stakes and mallet with no court order of execution at hand, they get an automatic jail sentence.

If a person states in their dieing will that they do not wish to be a vampire, then a vampire executioner stakes their corpse to ensure they do not raise. Even then, the executioner will get permission from the person's family before doing anything to the corpse.

There is no life sentence for a vampire - it is either death or nothing. Jails cannot hold a vampire against its will. California tried, but a master vampire got loose and killed twenty-five people in one night. He didn't feed, just killed. They had put crosses on the doors and on the guards, but religious symbols only work if the are both blessed and believed in.

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