The ordainments were a set of laws that governed the Aquan society. (TAS: "The Ambergris Element")

• Reversing the surgo-op forced mutation was against the ordainments.
• Going to the old cities of the air breathers was against the ordainments.
• Capturing a sur-snake was against the ordainments. Most likely because it allowed for the reversal of the surgo-op.

After the visit of the USS Enterprise in 2269, the Aquans pledged that they would pass new ordainments forbidding the loss of contact between the Aquans who returned to the surface and the Aquans who stayed at the Aqua city.