Fun with Laws
This week, I’ve posted thrice about Galgenbaum, a fantasy town ruled by Mayor-Justices who long ago bound minor death gods via contract to help defend the town. Galgenbaum is a magistracy, a community ruled by judges and their subordinate judicial officials. At least on the surface, Galgenbaum is a well-ordered, disciplined town, but, as Circero observed, “More law, less justice.”
My musings this week about Galgenbaum included pondering just what sorts of laws the town would have. Writing up a body of legal precedents and statutes is well beyond the scope of this blog, but I was reminded of Chaotic Shiny. If you’re not acquainted with this site, give it a visit. Chaotic Shiny offers numerous random generators for categories such as alphabet, RPG class, and ballads.
Curious, I generated ten laws using Chaotic Shiny’s Law Generator. Here’re the results:
The penalty for attempting bribery is a warning.
The penalty for robbing an official is a considerable term of servitude.
The penalty for killing a tradesman is a long imprisonment.
The penalty for smuggling spell scrolls is a moderate fine.
The penalty for a nobleman smuggling body parts is life imprisonment.
The penalty for a craftsman lying under oath is execution.
The penalty for maiming a mule is a considerable fine.
The penalty for plotting against a member of the royalty is a warning.
The penalty for a member of a certain bloodline stealing artifacts is public humiliation.
The penalty for a guild leader trespassing is execution.
At first glance, some of these seem appropriate, some seem interesting, and at least one seems silly. Take a gander at the eighth one about plotting against the royalty. Really? You get off with a warning? Absurd? On the surface, sure, but it did make me think.
The first function of the law is to instruct the citizenry, especially the young, about what is acceptable and not acceptable. In this respect, the tired canard that one cannot legislate morality becomes glaringly untrue. If the primary function of law is to teach about right and wrong, then one cannot help but legislate morality. With that in mind, what sort of community would punish plotting against the royalty with a warning?
Well, it seems fairly obvious that the community would be one that places little value on being royal. It would be a community that encourages plotting against the royalty. This doesn’t mean that the royalty don’t serve their usual functions within the community. The king is still the king, but His Majesty’s power and authority are subordinate in the community’s esteem regarding a well-executed plot against the royal family and its interests. The crime isn’t in the plotting against the royalty; the crime is in getting caught, and getting caught is embarrassing. One should be ashamed of oneself for not being devious enough to get away with whatever it was one was trying to get away with.
There’s probably an adventure idea in there….
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