Private adjudication could function without state enforcement powers.

Evidence

The evolution and survival for a considerable period of a system of private adjudication raises both particular versions of our general questions and new questions about the details of the mechanism. What was the purpose of the private adjudication system? Was it a substitute for the reputation mechanism that had worked effectively in earlier periods (Greif, 1989)? Also, if there was no state to enforce judgments, how did they have any effect? How could a system of adjudication function without substantial police powers? — PAUL R. MILGRO, PAUL R. MILGRO - THE ROLE OF…, 10

Categorization

• QUESTION: This is a genuinely open puzzle worth chasing — how could medieval Law Merchant judgments bind anyone without courts or police to back them?
• XREF: Connects to Greif’s earlier work on reputation mechanisms among medieval Mediterranean traders, and to game-theoretic accounts of self-enforcing institutions. — connects to: The state cannot claim a monopoly over law; Medieval merchants developed private commercial law without state enforcement — PAUL R. MILGRO, PAUL R. MILGRO - THE ROLE OF…, 8; A functioning legal system can exist where only officials accept its rules. — HLA Hart, The Concept of Law (Clarendon Law…, 350 (+2 more)

Related

• The state cannot claim a monopoly over law (similarity 0.88)
• Medieval merchants developed private commercial law without state enforcement (similarity 0.85)
• Medieval European commerce was governed by private merchant law, not state law (similarity 0.79)
• Merchants developed private legal codes governing long-distance trade before any nation-state existed. (similarity 0.78)
• Ostracism, not state force, enforced medieval merchant law (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• A functioning legal system can exist where only officials accept its rules. #exemplifies (0.90) — HLA Hart, The Concept of Law (Clarendon Law…, 350