Exotic Governmental/Legal Systems

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

A system where the only government consists of courts who are funded by the plaintiffs who file charges in them and the police they employ.

This can be read as either the courts or the plaintiffs employing the police. I think that was the confusion. Though for the record, I found the suggestion perfectly clear. And it is very Liberterian / Duncanite.

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

No. Only one court per community with the justice elected by the members of the community. It's obviously a wild-westy type of setting so in case of a crisis the judge can temporarily deputize more members of the community.

In that case it's failure mode is more like "We have a warrant to arrest you for mass murder. Would you like to outbid?"

At best people who can't afford to fund the court, or didn't think they needed to if it's a pay in advance rather than on demand system, don't get access to justice.

[Þorkell]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

A system where the only government consists of courts who are funded by the plaintiffs who file charges in them and the police they employ.

Somewhat reminiscent of the system used during the Icelandic Commonwealth.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by malloyd

In that case it's failure mode is more like "We have a warrant to arrest you for mass murder. Would you like to outbid?"

At best people who can't afford to fund the court, or didn't think they needed to if it's a pay in advance rather than on demand system, don't get access to justice.

Yes. The rich guys in this system would operate with relative impunity as long as they don't push things to the point where the enraged mobs rise up with torches and the indigent and isolated can be abused by anyone. This is hardly an unknown phenomenon in small communities with little outside contact.

[Daigoro]

I was tickled by the idea of government by judges (without going Megacity One) for some recent world-building game, but I couldn't wrap my head around who would be creating the legislation for the judges to judge on.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

Yes. The rich guys in this system would operate with relative impunity as long as they don't push things to the point where the enraged mobs rise up with torches.

In other words, "my lawyer is this bunch of guys with guns". It's a totally realistic situation, but it's not really a government.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Anthony

In other words, "my lawyer is this bunch of guys with guns". It's a totally realistic situation, but it's not really a government.

No. Most people are not going to be the richest family in town or the town drunk.

[jason taylor]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

No. Most people are not going to be the richest family in town or the town drunk.

No society can avoid having an Omelas girl somewhere in the cracks. So the question becomes how to minimize that aspect.

[jason taylor]

Originally Posted by Anthony

In other words, "my lawyer is this bunch of guys with guns". It's a totally realistic situation, but it's not really a government.

Depends on what we mean. Did we specify, "institutional arrangement, with something vaguely resembling consensus even if it is the consensus that anything else would be worse", or did we just mean,"Way of keeping order in a given society and marshaling it's combined efforts whatever those might be." Does there have to be laws or a bureaucracy or anything like that? At minimum almost all governments are a bunch of guys with guns though there are some weird oddities(no I do not know how to explain Andorra but it is small enough not to need guys with guns and has France and Spain on either side both of which have plenty of guys with guns). But I would agree that just having guys with guns is not interesting enough for the post.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Daigoro

I was tickled by the idea of government by judges (without going Megacity One) for some recent world-building game, but I couldn't wrap my head around who would be creating the legislation for the judges to judge on.

There are two approaches. The first is that laws are made by some kind of popular democracy of the members of the community. The second is that that the laws are made by the judges themselves with a hefty helping of precedent and tradition.