RE: Lunar vs. Sartar Law

From: Richard, Jeff <jeff.richard_at_...>
Date: Wed, 24 Jan 2001 17:03:00 -0800


Nick Brooke:

>> The clash between these two systems of law is profound at every
level.

>Thank God there's some Tarshites willing to compromise, by e.g.
handing out

>"Lunar" (limb-lopping) punishments to "Heortling" (family)
collective units,

>instead of just punishing the individual guilty members.
>You can see how much the Sartarites respect this cultural
sensitivity...

I think Nick brings up a salient point - why should this be viewed as just a conflict between Lunar (Dara Happan) law and Sartar law. Personally, I think that although Tarshite law has incorporated Lunar (Dara Happan) legal concepts that are useful to Tarshite lawmakers (i.e. the King and his lieutenants), Tarshite law is not Dara Happan. Indeed, I think that a Dara Happan-Lunar would find Tarshite law as unrecognizable as a Sartarite would.

For instance, the concept that the family unit bears the responsibility of making payment to the aggrieved party is probably still around - whether that party is another family group (in the normal Heortling manner) or the King (a borrowing from DH).

A possible RW analogy is the "rediscovery" of Roman legal concepts by the Norman states in the 11th-12th centuries that assisted the kings of England in building what became the Angevin empire. I doubt that a 6th century "Roman" trained familiar with the Institutes of Justinian would easily understand Norman "Roman" law. Not to mention whether Cicero would even recognize it....

Anyways just a few ideas -

Jeff (who is working on a law review article at this moment)

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