Bounty Hunters ' Creed The Bounty Hunters ' Creed were the unwritten rules of the bounty hunters . All bounty hunters were required to abide by these guidelines . A bounty hunter who failed to uphold these rules would undergo termination of their bounty hunting license . Overview . Most hunters adhered , to some degree , to an unwritten code of ethics which , when spoken of at all , was referred to as the " bounty hunter ' s creed . " While the exact wording of these tenets varied from planet to planet , the Creed served as a loosely defined set of enforceable principles , by which hunters conducted their trade and lived out their lives . This rule emphasized that , no matter how great a reward , a hunter should never take any undue risks to his or her life in order to make a capture . They should also consider how much of a risk whichever bounty was going to be and to plan accordingly . ( Of course , how much effort a hunter had put into pursuing a quarry , how great the reward , and if was worth the risk were all open to interpretation in the middle of a hunt . ) A reward , even if enormous , could not be spent if a hunter was dead . This single , cardinal rule , more than any other , defined the way in which bounty hunters approached their chosen profession . It reflected the idea that sapient beings , to some degree , must be accorded respect . If , however , an individual had a bounty placed on them , he or she ceased to be an individual with rights . No longer a member of the galactic community , the " acquisition " became fair game . Tears should never be shed over the fate of someone that was , after all , only an " acquisition . " In keeping with the loosely defined hunter code of ethics , killing was sometimes necessary . That was business , pure and simple . However , unnecessary killing was still murder . The hunter , unless otherwise directed by those leveling the bounty , must attempt to deliver the acquisition alive . Often , those leveling the bounty had a vested interest in a live target — and the target might have been better off getting killed by the hunter . Simply put , whatever their origin , bounty hunters saw themselves as a special breed . They took their lives ( and those of others ) into their hands each time they hunted . One may agree with another hunter ' s motives or insult them for the manner in which they carried out their hunts , but no bounty hunter would ever take up arms against a fellow hunter . This law applied only to hunters who followed the creed , not to those who had a bounty posted on their head becoming merely acquisitions . In such cases , the ex - hunter was no longer seen as a member of the common fellowship and old scores could now be settled with impunity . While it was not unheard of for hunters to work as a team , the hunt for a given acquisition was most often seen as a form of personal duel between two sapient creatures . In such a deal , the hunter matched skill and courage against all the resources one ' s opponent could bring to bear . If the hunter won , it was a personal triumph denoting superior skill and intellect , and not simply a question of luck . To interfere with another ' s hunt , unless first invited , was to leave the question of " who is better " open and , perhaps forever , unresolved . Of course , competition between hunters was often fierce and there was often a very thin line between " competition " and " interference " . This being true , while a hunter was constrained against taking direct action against another hunter , there was nothing to constrain a hunter from hiring others to do the dirty work . Of course , if such an action , successful or not , could be traced back to the original perpetrator , serious consequences inevitably followed . In cases where the acquisition had been taken alive , that " choice " could not be altered . To kill an acquisition in the course of the hunt was one thing , but to purposely kill an unarmed , helpless being already subdued and unable to resist was seen as simple slaughter and wanton butchery . An acquisition " killed while attempting to escape " however , would be an entirely different matter altogether . While no hunter had the right to interfere with another ' s hunt , there came times when even the best of master hunters required assistance . In extreme cases , any hunter could have asked for and expected aid and assistance from another hunter , even if it meant that the latter must temporarily suspend his or her own hunt in the meantime to render such aid . Whatever personal grievances or animosities that would be involved between the two parties , it is known and understood that hunters took care of their own . Of course , such assistance was not without its price tag , and the arbitration of payment after the fact could often put a substantial dent in any expected profit .