One of the things I like to show in stories is how the law might operate in other cultures, be those in the future or in a fantasy setting. I don't mean necessarily the laws against murder and theft, though those might be different in some interesting way, but rather how other societies might handle law suits.
For instance, our current system is poorly set up for the purpose of protecting those who need it the most. In other words, you can't get justice if you can't afford a lawyer or find one willing to work on a contingency since that means winning. That puts rich individuals and businesses ahead of the game when it comes to shoddy products and such. For the most part, our current society relies upon class actions, which are actually a rather recent innovation, and boycott of a product or business when the cost of the defective product is below the expense of an attorney. Mind you, this is not always the case, but it is largely how it appears.
Anyway, I'm working on a story that is basically a culture emerging from a horrible downfall of the previous civilization. So, a culture equivalent to ours is now in a medieval state of technology. They know of some advances in technology that can be achieved once they reacquire the knowledge and skills. Likewise, they know what those can create socially, so they're trying to create a new legal system that will better protect those who most need it.
So, any ideas?
If you share any, I have no problem with others using those same ideas in their own stories. Who knows? We might come up with workable ideas that others might later adopt in real life.
For instance, our current system is poorly set up for the purpose of protecting those who need it the most. In other words, you can't get justice if you can't afford a lawyer or find one willing to work on a contingency since that means winning. That puts rich individuals and businesses ahead of the game when it comes to shoddy products and such. For the most part, our current society relies upon class actions, which are actually a rather recent innovation, and boycott of a product or business when the cost of the defective product is below the expense of an attorney. Mind you, this is not always the case, but it is largely how it appears.
Anyway, I'm working on a story that is basically a culture emerging from a horrible downfall of the previous civilization. So, a culture equivalent to ours is now in a medieval state of technology. They know of some advances in technology that can be achieved once they reacquire the knowledge and skills. Likewise, they know what those can create socially, so they're trying to create a new legal system that will better protect those who most need it.
So, any ideas?
If you share any, I have no problem with others using those same ideas in their own stories. Who knows? We might come up with workable ideas that others might later adopt in real life.