>- Is he simply a source of oral tradition that the clan ring uses when
>pronouncing judgement on someone?
I don't think anybody in Heortling society 'pronounces judgement' on anyone else. If you're the victim of a crime, you don't appeal to the law or an abstract code of right and wrong... you can either go and extract bloody revenge on your attacker, or persuade them that offering you compensation will be a better solution all round.
Law moots are simply an institutionalised method of bringing the two parties in the dispute together peacefully, giving them both an opportunity to state their case and, if applicable, to intimidate their opponent into accepting a reasonable settlement (by producing lots of jurors and character witnesses, who just happen to be heavily armed warriors...)
The lawspeaker's primary role is to advise both parties what a 'reasonable settlement' would be. He knows all the precedents and traditions, and what agreements were reached in similar cases in history. Often, disputants will simply accept his decision, although they may use it as just the starting point for further negotiations.
If they don't, then social sanctions come into play. Claiming compensation far in excess of what the lawspeaker proclaims as being traditional may be seen as greedy and dishonourable. The clan chieftain and ring may well withdraw their support from the claimants, leaving them defenceless if the other party refuses the deal and goes for the 'violence is always an option' part of the legal code.
Lawspeakers can also negotiate on behalf of another in a dispute (acting as their lawyer, in modern parlance). This would either be as a personal favour to a friend, or because the clan ring has an interest in the case and has ordered the lawspeaker to act.
>- To what extent does a lawspeaker perform investigation into crimes?
While the official answer would be, I presume, "not at all", this does sound like a good idea for a campaign. Especially if a clan's lawspeaker is unusually young for the position, s/he might well choose to take a more active role in solving crimes rather than just offering legal advice. It would be a personal, this-clan-only situation, though, not a general thing...
>Furthermore, I'm not sure I can quite get my mind around the concept of
>kinstrife. Wergild applies when one clan injures another, but the
>implication is that criminal acts WITHIN a clan are so horrific that
>they're the exception, not the rule. Is this realistic?
Think of it another way: you can't steal from your kin, because property is owned by the whole family not the individual, so there's nothing *to* steal. Fights and property damage are regrettable, but not crimes: if your own child (in 21st century Earth) kicked a football through your window, you wouldn't have the police arrest them for criminal damage, would you? Only if it comes to actual killing, or acts which seriously endanger life (such as setting fire to the stead, or calling down the wrath of the gods by breaking a religious taboo) does it count as kinstrife.
>But for intra-clan issues, does the clan make an effort to avoid
>outlawing its sons and daughters unnecessarily and, if so, how? Or do
>such crimes simply not occur? (The presence of laws implies that they do.)
Based on the above, I'd imagine that intra-clan disputes would normally be arbitrated on an informal basis. If Braggi and Beorn are fighting over some girl, then their grandmother will make sure no bones were broken, give them a telling off and send them to watch the cattle in pastures at opposite ends of the tula for a couple of weeks, in the cold and rain. If they're still fighting after that, then the next step up is to put them in front of the chieftain and shame them in front of the entire clan. Actual outlawry is held in reserve as the ultimate punishment. (And even then there are different degrees of outlawry, from "Go and live with your mother's brother for a couple of seasons until this blows over" to "See that Babeestor Gor devotee over there? We've told her that at noon, she can add a new trophy to her axe. You've got about half an hour: you'd better start running."
Stephen
End of Glorantha Digest, Vol 11, Issue 43
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