MJ posted this on my 'blog' at GO.  It should be of use to those interested in world creation.

I should point out that MJ got his juris doctore, I think, from Harvard Law School so he knows just a teeny bit about the law.  And one can make massively different societies just by changing a few laws....

Send someone to a world where his hair color means his word has no value in a court of law, or just the opposite where people with his hair color are the only ones listened to in a court of law....the first offers the chance to fight punks protected by the law and cops once they try to protect the punks from the verser's righteous fury....the second offers a chance to test him morally...willhe go along with oppressing redheads, or will he stand and fight for justice!!  :)

So, here's some more serious and well-reasoned thoughts on the role of law in society....

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http://ptgptb.org/0009/law01.html The Source of Law discusses how legal systems and laws come into existence.

http://ptgptb.org/0010/law2.html The Course of Law discusses legal procedures and suspect rights, and what it takes to get a conviction.

http://ptgptb.org/0011/law3.html The Force of Law is about punishment, how we justify it and how we perform it.

I still think it a very helpful tool for the design of societies.

–M. J. Young