Dragonstar: Imperial Law
The Imperial Charter, a document drafted and signed by the grand dukes when the Empire was founded, sets forth the laws governing the relations of the royal houses and the administration of the Empire. It codifies the rights and obligations of the emperor, the imperial councilors, the grand dukes, the rest of the nobility, and the ways they can and cannot interact with one another. The Imperial Charter says very little about the rights of the common folk or laws governing everyday life and activities in the Empire. Instead, these are considered sovereign laws, or those that each royal house is expected to establish and enforce within its domain.
The few exceptions to this rule are imperial laws designed primarily to keep the peace—the Empire's whole reason for being. The principle of active morality (SHB 13), for example, was first outlined in the Imperial Charter, and it therefore trumps any sovereign laws a royal house attempts to pass and enforce. Whether in the Domain of Deserene or the Domain of Mazorgrim, indiscriminate killing based solely on alignment is illegal. Likewise, imperial law prohibits such crimes as murder, assault, and theft. However, these terms have very specific, technical meanings. For example, "murder" is defined as the unjustified and intentional killing of another sentient. So, while such acts are illegal everywhere in the Empire, the individual houses—and even individual nobles—can define "justification," "intent," and even "sentient" with a great deal of autonomy. In general, it is much easier to be convicted of murder in the Domain of Deserene, where the laws are very tight, than it is in the Domain of Noros, where they are exceedingly lax.
As a result, issues such as gun control, fair trade practices, tax codes, property, and countless others are treated very differently from one imperial domain to another, and within limits, from one star system to another. The latter is especially true on the frontier: In most domains, laws on the colonized Outlands worlds are much more lax than in the Empire proper. Frequent travelers, especially those whose livelihoods depend on their ability to operate effectively in many different domains, must often be well educated in local laws.