Pre-Islamic Arabs lacked objective legal compulsion yet obeyed tribal norms personally

Evidence

Thus, the pre-Islamic Arabs were without any notion of an objectively legal compulsion; in all instances, purely personal decision was their highest authority, although this decision was thoroughly imbued with tribal consciousness and the requirements of tribal life, which gave it its norms. — Georg Simmel, The Sociology of Georg Simmel, 6438

Categorization

• SHARE: A compact ethnographic example of law without external coercion — good for a legal-theory or anthropology friend.
• CANDY: A conversational fact: a whole culture governed its members with no concept of objective law, purely personal decision infused with tribal norms.
• XREF: connects to: Pre-Islamic Arab women held substantial autonomy contested by later historians.