It's All In Black and White

Contracts I

By Norische

What is a BDSM contract?

The definition of a BDSM contract is fundamentally a consensual agreement between two or more individuals within a BDSM relationship. A contract defines the roles, rights, and responsibilities of all parties involved; these contracts can be very basic, barely covering the basic information to extremely specific, covering virtually every aspect of the relationship.

Is a BDSM contract legal?

While these contracts may be morally binding they are not legally enforceable.

If a contract is not legal, then why bother?

Every submissive and slave craves structure, this contract gives him or her a written guideline of behavior and expectations and, depending on the contract, consequences.

Is there no way to make a ownership contract legal?

There are a lot of legal "loop holes" within our modern legal system, some of these loop hopes can be used to assist in such a contract... although the wording of such must be done carefully and with much forethought.

This is a contact that I have written; you will notice the interesting manipulation of certain words, such as the use of Employer instead of Master, Mistress or Dominant and Employee instead of slave or submissive. You will also notice that there is a promise of payment for services rendered, in exchange for the receipt of room and board. Is this contract legal, yes... as an employment contract it is perfectly legal. If a slave is viewed as a domestic employee he or she can obtain a legally binding contract. However, one must keep in mind that in order for this contract to remain legal the use of certain details must be sacrificed. Sexual obligations, and any aspect of "illegal" or "immoral" activities must be removed from the basic contract. However you can place an amendment to your contract that will disclose any specifics better left to the imagination of the general public, and have it signed separately.

This Agreement for Employment is made on this _____ day of _______ (month), ___ (year), by and between ______________________ (hereinafter referred to as "Employer") and ___________________________ (hereinafter referred to as "Employee").

The Employer shall employ Employee subject to the following terms and conditions.

1. Employment for the above Employee shall commence on ___________ (Date).

2. The following duties and responsibilities shall be competently performed by the Employee:

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

3. In addition to the duties stated above, the Employee shall perform such further and other duties required by the Employer.

4. The Employee shall work _______ through _______ from ____ A.M. to ____ P.M. and such additional hours as are required by the Employer for the Employee to competently perform the duties of his position. The Employee shall use his or her best efforts on behalf of the Employer.

5. The Employee shall comply with all stated standards of performance, policies, rules, and regulations. A complete disclosure has been made of these standards and has verbally been given to the Employee. At this time, Employee acknowledges all verbal negotiations as to the standards of performance. The Employee shall also comply with such future Employer policies, rules, regulations, performance standards and requirements that may be disclosed or amended from time to time.

6. Employee shall at all times faithfully, industriously, and to the best of his or her ability, experience and talent, perform all duties that may be required of and from him or her pursuant to the express and implicit terms hereof, to the reasonable satisfaction of the Employer. Such duties shall be rendered at __________________________________ and at other such place or places as the Employer in good faith requires or as the interests, needs, and opportunities of the Employer shall require or make advisable.

7. Employment under this Agreement shall commence on ________ (date), and shall terminate on _______ (date), unless terminated prior to such time for cause.

8. For the limited purpose of consideration of employment or maintaining employment, the Employee asserts that he or she does authorize the following medical examination and/or testing

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

__. ____At Employer's expense ___ At Employee's expense. The Employee also does here by verify that there is no medical or psychological reason that he or she cannot fulfill the obligation of employment as offered within this contract. By signing this contract the Employee does here by swear to disclose any medical restriction or health related problem that may hamper the proper completion of any required duty of employment, also the Employer does hereby verify that said disclosure may or may not affect the employment status of the Employee. All disclosed information shall remain private and within the files of said Employee unless written authorization has been given by the Employee.

9. The Employer shall make payment to the Employee a set amount as compensation for services rendered. The Employee agrees to accept the sum of __________ ($______) per year, payable monthly, in the amount of ___________ ($______). In addition to the above compensation, the Employee will be entitled to the following "fringe benefits":

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

10. The Employee shall receive room and board at the agreed upon rate of _______ per month. The location of the said room ________________________________________________.

11. This rate shall include ___electric ___gas ___water ___ sewer ___ cable ___ garbage collection ___local phone services ___ other (specify)

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

12. This rate shall not include ___ transportation ___ long distance phone calls ___medical expenses ___insurance ___entertainment.

13. The Employee must not abuse any furnishings, fixtures, or property provided by the Employer, the Employee is responsible for any damages in excess of normal wear and tear to any said property.

14. If the Employee defaults on this contract, the Employer has the right to make any necessary repairs and charge the Employee the cost. The cost will be added to and payable as rent.

15. The Employee agrees to keep the grounds and any associated areas neat and clean.

16. Vehicles may only be driven or parked in designated areas; the Employee is restricted to 1 vehicle.

17. The Employer shall not be liable for injury or damage to Employee or any person who uses or is on the premises, or be liable for damage to their property unless it results from Employer negligence. The Employee is responsible for all actions taken by individuals invited onto the premises by the Employee. The Employee is responsible and does have the option to purchase Renter's Insurance at their own cost, this is not the responsibility of the Employer.

18. The Employee shall make no alterations or improvements to the living space or dwelling or construct any building or make any alteration on the premises without explicit consent of the Employer. Any alterations, improvements, or changes implemented unless otherwise noted in writing shall be and become the property of the Employer and remain on the premises at the expiration or early termination of this contract.

19. This contract of employment may terminate upon the occurrence of any of the following events: (a) the death of the Employee or Employer; (b) the failure of the Employee to perform his or her duties satisfactorily after notice or warning thereof; (c) for just cause based upon nonperformance of duties by Employee; (d) economic reasons of the Employer which may arise during the term of this Agreement and which may be beyond the control of the Employer, (e) failure to pay rent or added rent on time, (f) improper conduct by tenant where as local, state, or federal laws have been violated, (g) the Employee has the right to terminate employment at any time.

20. Early termination of this contract by Employee or as a direct result of failure to fulfill said obligations of the Employee may involve repayment for viable expenses accumulated associated with consideration to repairs, decoration, cleaning costs, and any losses experienced by the Employer. The Employee may be held responsible for rent, expenses, damages and losses until a replacement can be found or until such time as the original termination of this contract.

21. If any part of this contract is viewed as not legal, the rest of the contract will be unaffected.

22. The Employer's failure to enforce any term of this contract shall not prevent the Employer from enforcing such terms at a later time.

23. Any items purchased by the Employer and presented to the Employee for the specific purpose of assisting said Employee with previously stated duties shall remain the property of the Employer at all times, and shall be treated with all due care, any loss or damage to said items shall be the responsibility of the Employee to repair or replace items as needed.

24. The failure to disclose any legal, medical, psychological, spiritual or ethical reason that the Employee cannot fulfill his or her obligation in a timely manner may lead to disciplinary actions and possible cancellation of this contract.

25. Employee will not at anytime, in any fashion, form, or manner, either directly or indirectly divulge, disclose, or communicate to any person, firm or organization in any manner whatsoever any information of any kind, nature or description concerning any matters affecting or relating to the Employer, including, without limitations, the names of any associates, information concerning other Employees, or any form of business relating to the Employer or any associates, the manner in which the Employer conducts him/herself, the plans, processes or nature of the employment and any specific information associated to said employment, without regard to whether any or all of the foregoing matters would be deemed confidential material or private. The Employee hereby stipulates that disclosure of any such confidential materials, or information will be viewed as a grievous breach of conduct and may be considered a dismissal offence.

26. This Agreement constitutes the complete understanding between the parties, unless amended by a subsequent written instrument signed by the Employer and Employee. Any dispute under this contract shall be required to be resolved by binding arbitration of the parties hereto. Each party shall select one arbitrator or jointly seek the arbitration of one individual.

_____________________________________________________________________

Employer's Signature Employee's Signature

Date: ________________________

Notary _________________________________________________________

This is only one example of a possible legal contract. The legal system, fallible as it may be does indeed provide us with challenging, if not interesting, ways of working around the system.

My suggestion is, to go to a lawyer and have him or her review your contract, perhaps even have them write a contract that will provide some legal standing for all individuals involved.

Remember a contract should be viewed and honor bound first and foremost, but it is always nice to have a legal foundation to stand on.

As with everything this is my opinion, take what you will and leave the rest. If you wish to contact me, my email address is Norisch1@mchsi.com. If you wish to see more of my work you may find a complete listing of all my writings at... http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Norisches_Quill/?yguid=99788111 in the files section.

Norische