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Old 11-05-2018, 07:14 PM   #511
David Johnston2
 
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Default Re: Exotic Governmental/Legal Systems

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Originally Posted by Luke Bunyip View Post
Noice. Just filled a gap in an undefined aspect of one of my fantasy settings.
While I was pushing for the most bizarre system imaginable because my last couple were nothing much, that bit of it is probably the most workable bit.
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Old 11-05-2018, 08:12 PM   #512
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It's potentially a good system for nomadic folk, or a society which has disparate nomadic and settled aspects.

It could even have a court of appeal, where if one of the judges is in dispute with the others, a case could be reheard with a panel of five, one from each party, and three neutrals. Would require a societal reverence for jurisprudence and the actual practice of law, but.
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Old 11-06-2018, 05:39 AM   #513
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Default Re: Exotic Governmental/Legal Systems

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It's potentially a good system for nomadic folk, or a society which has disparate nomadic and settled aspects.

It could even have a court of appeal, where if one of the judges is in dispute with the others, a case could be reheard with a panel of five, one from each party, and three neutrals. Would require a societal reverence for jurisprudence and the actual practice of law, but.
Such a society might be highly buttressed by kinship, gerontocracy, and religion. Like Jews or Armenians or Roma. The reverence for law is in part the reverence for the patriarch. Though Jews have long been famed for reverence for law in the abstract anyway.

Joint trials of the kind took place along the Scottish Border. If things were REASONABLY peaceful (meaning the respective monarchs were not laying waste to everything over petty geneological and real estate disputes even if the clans were still robbing each other merrily) then the officials from the English and Scottish side would meet regularly. In the course of the meeting there was a series of trials with a jury of six English and six Scots.
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Old 11-06-2018, 06:05 AM   #514
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One for a Monty Python like satire of Democracy: The candidates take turns insulting each other in front of judges. The one who does the best wins.

The insults have to be humorous, clever and outrageous otherwise there is no point to them. Again imagine something more like Monty Python then real life.
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Old 11-06-2018, 06:23 AM   #515
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Default Re: Exotic Governmental/Legal Systems

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One for a Monty Python like satire of Democracy: The candidates take turns insulting each other in front of judges. The one who does the best wins.

The insults have to be humorous, clever and outrageous otherwise there is no point to them. Again imagine something more like Monty Python then real life.
So, just like Epic Rap Battles of History.
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Old 12-08-2018, 10:09 PM   #516
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A merchant quarter of a city, held by several powers rather like Tredroy, or coastal cities in nineteenth century China. Legal rights in each Power's autonomous district are extraterritorial as if it was an embassy. In the bazaar joint rule is held. No military force is allowed. The contributions to the constabulary is either according to the percentage of population or simply divided by the number of Powers. Magistrates and Jurors are similarly divided and laws are a compromise between the traditions of all powers. It is the right of every power to provide legal assistance to it's citizens.

More simply the bazaar is a corporation recognized by the laws of all powers in the city. Order is kept by local security. Of course that does not explain whose law will be appealed to in felony trials.
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Old 12-12-2018, 06:25 PM   #517
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Aside from the main legislature, judiciary, and executive there is a separate house charged with investigating internal corruption. It is similar to the Venetian Council of Ten but each member has his own investigatory agency and inspects all the other members as well as the rest of the government. They are not intended to act as one but compete to get collars both amid the state officials and each other.
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Old 12-13-2018, 03:46 PM   #518
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A republic with a popularly elected legislature, but constitutionally only members of the founding families may stand for election in it.
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Old 12-13-2018, 04:58 PM   #519
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A republic with a popularly elected legislature, but constitutionally only members of the founding families may stand for election in it.
That sounds similar to the Athenian thing of only landholders standing for election.

One can see how that might develop, if the state was meant frankly as a means of preserving a particular ethnoreligious group.

One can also see how troubles about that would come, especially if people who are not clients of the founders start making contributions to the state that they might reasonably desire compensation for.
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Old 12-13-2018, 07:16 PM   #520
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One can also see how troubles about that would come, especially if people who are not clients of the founders start making contributions to the state that they might reasonably desire compensation for.
The traditional approaches for states with systems like this that need to admit new power bases are marry them in (usually there is no shortage of daughters in families in decline that could really use an influx of cash or political support) or pay for genealogical research that will by astonishing coincidence just happen to discover one of your ancestors actually was one of the founders. For an additional fee your newly found cousins can be convinced to testify said research is indisputably valid.
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