On Fri, 25 Dec 2020 12:23 Timothy Collinson - timothy.collinson at port.ac.uk (via tml list), <xxxxxx@simplelists.com> wrote:


On Thu, 24 Dec 2020 at 10:31, Jeff Zeitlin <xxxxxx@gmail.com> wrote:

There's also the way certain tax-related laws are written - Someone
who lives on a boat but doesn't own the anchorage (e.g., rents a slot
at a marina) may be able to stay at sea (i.e., outside legal
territorial limits or the Exclusive Economic Zone)  or move from
jurisdiction to jurisdiction often enough for specified periods so as
to avoid tax liability in any of those jurisdictions.

Oooh, I'm not sure I considered this angle.  Although the adventure is set in Core Sector and never strays from that so it would depend on using planetary extraligty rather than Imperial/non-Imperial space jurisdiction.  Or something.

There's also a couple more points related to this and the security angle.

Dealing with the latter first, having a fixed abode means that it's a fixed target for any enemies or other hostile actors. A yacht is at least a *moving* target. In the TU, if equipped with a decent jump drive it is a moving target that can very difficult to locate or track.

That leads on to other legal or official entanglements. If the TU has anything like the requirement across much of the real world to serve or deliver legal documents to a person or registered legal entity's address, or even simple messages the owner expects but doesn't want to receive, then that is much harder if either of those are mobile - again much more so in the TU where there is no FTL communication.

For example, 'My lord, the Duke's agent has been asking some awkward questions, I think he will be seeking an audience with you to ask about that matter we discussed.' 'I see. That would be embarrassing right now. I think a little sojourn is in order, and I may just change my mind about the itinerary once we have departed.'

Cheers,
Jim

P.S. Merry Christmas!