I've been working on social relations among my elves, dwarves, etc., most recently thinking about what constitutes adulthood among the various races. One dividing line is that children cannot take an oath nor testify in court against their parents. And that brought me up against the whole question of how disputes get settled.
We have laws and courts, but it was not always thus. In many tribal societies, the "law" is known by the village elders, and there's little distinction between customs and laws. In the early Roman Republic laws were known but not recorded--they were simply the mores. It was something of a social revolution when the Laws of the Twelve Tables were recorded and placed on public view.
Even then, Rome did not have lawyers, quite. Judges long pre-date lawyers. In the Middle Ages, there was a whole class of legally authorized people called notaries who performed lots of legal functions but did not argue at court (they drew up contracts, for example, and witnessed agreements of all sorts).
So, my question to all you who have some legal background, especially in the history of law, what kinds of non-modern, non-Western law can you describe for us? Were there lawyers in Tokugawa Japan? In Imperial China? How about the Ghana Empire?
I'm just looking for something different for my dwarves and elves, and maybe even for orcs and trolls.
We have laws and courts, but it was not always thus. In many tribal societies, the "law" is known by the village elders, and there's little distinction between customs and laws. In the early Roman Republic laws were known but not recorded--they were simply the mores. It was something of a social revolution when the Laws of the Twelve Tables were recorded and placed on public view.
Even then, Rome did not have lawyers, quite. Judges long pre-date lawyers. In the Middle Ages, there was a whole class of legally authorized people called notaries who performed lots of legal functions but did not argue at court (they drew up contracts, for example, and witnessed agreements of all sorts).
So, my question to all you who have some legal background, especially in the history of law, what kinds of non-modern, non-Western law can you describe for us? Were there lawyers in Tokugawa Japan? In Imperial China? How about the Ghana Empire?
I'm just looking for something different for my dwarves and elves, and maybe even for orcs and trolls.