Magistrate, Training and Types

Remember from the Gorean Governance class, "Depending on who is in power, either the Ubar of High Council makes the laws for the city and enforce them. Law is enforced by warriors but warriors are directed by and controlled by the Magistrates and Prefects. There are two types of Magistrates. They are the merchant magistrates whose job it is to enforce and to support merchant law. Then there are the city magistrates who are responsible for enforcing the city law. Magistrates are technically scribes. They are one of the subcastes of scribes. I would say Magistrates are more a combination of Lawyer and Judge, but people can appeal their ruling and so you get Praetors who are judges as well. Because magistrates are appointed in a particular city you may find someone who is a magistrate who is not a scribe. This goes for Ambassadors as well. There is one instance in the writing of Gor where an Ambassador was a warrior, which make sense because some warriors are highly literate and extremely well read. So in general Ambassadors and Magistrates are scribes but that is a matter of convenience and not an absolute rule. Others mentioned would include Archons who seem to be record keepers who judge from the records in the past. Ubara, who is like a queen with great power or who is one of the companions of an Ubar. There is no known case in the writings of Gor where an Ubara who was without an Ubar had power except for Talena who was called "Regent" or the "Tatrix" which is specific for the female leader of the city of Tharna."