The story is called The Lord Protector. At one point in the story the protagonist is among a society that resembles Scottish clans. I have been working out a system of government for them, because he is influenced by it (important to the plot as he is a leader himself) and here’s what I’ve come up with.
The basic societal unit is the Household, which consists of two parents, their children, and their son’s wives if they have no offspring. Once a couple has children, they become a seperate Household.
A Family consists of many households. At the head of each Family is an elder - the oldest matron or patron of the line. All of their offspring and their spouses constitute their Family. Some people belong to more than one Family through marriage. When an elder dies, his or her direct descendents decide who will inherit the eldership (either from amongst themselves or from the late elder’s siblings). If no decision can be reached within twenty days, the eldest survivor (sibling or offspring) assumes the role.
A Family usually has around 100 adults at any time.
Families form loose associations called Clans which can consist of anywhere between 10 and 40 Families (by law, no more or less). Clans form councils with the elders of their respective families. The elders meet on a yearly basis to elect a single counsilor - not necessarily an elder - to represent them in the national council. The national council serves as a court where clans or families of different clans have conflicts, but has no legislative power.
The main structure of government comes from the tuori, which are courts and their attendent police forces. Any elder can form a tuor, and they make the laws which will govern those under their jurisdiction. But here’s where it gets interesting: The head of every household decides which tuor will serve them.
The result is that there are no states. Law is polycentric, as each houshold decides which code of law they will follow. If two people from different tuori have a conflict, their respective elders choose a third party to review the case. Appeals work in the same way - a person has the right to appeal the decision of even their own tuor to a third party for review.
Laws tend to resemble Anglo-Saxon Common Law, where people and their property are given consideration before anything else. However, some tuor have stricter codes, and participation in such codes for a certain period of time gives a person a sort of “certification” to different trades. For example, there are tuori that train people to be warriors, and others that train people in religious practice, or leadership roles. Such things qualify people to become councilors, military officers, advisors or even priests (the Clansmen practice a sort of proto-Christianity, or their traditional polycentric religion, or secularized practices derived from either of them. )
In the event of crisis, the elders of the clans can order the tuori affiliated with their clan to arms. This is usually done when a tuor or a particular clan refuses to abide by a third party decision, or when there is a threat from abroad. The national Council can order ALL the tuori to arms in the case of such a threat. However, there is no standing army. For one thing, such an order expires after thirty days and the tuori are then left to decide whether to continue fighting or not, if the crisis still exists. Most of the time, they do as a matter of honor. In fact, since tuori are eager to look good in the public eye, they usually volunteer their service and no mandatory call to arms is issued.
Punishment usually follows an eye-for-an-eye-plus-interest system. You break it, you pay for it with compensation for inconvenience. You steal it, you return it with interest. You hurt another person, you get flogged and pay for their doctor’s bills and time lost. Hovever, a person convicted of a violent crime usually offers a monetary payment to buy their way out of being flogged. Debts are usually worked off indirectly - an official of the tuor that represents the victim takes a portion of their wages and brings it to the victim until the debt is payed. There is not really any direct slavery (although sometimes if both parties prefer it, it works out that way - one of the main character’s friends becomes a slave to a woman and ends up marrying her).
However, there are “work farms” where recalcitrant criminals go.
While a murderer is subject to the death penalty, they have the option of becoming a slave instead - but that is the decision of the victim’s family.
Rapists, without exception, are castrated and ostracized (that is, they are denied representation by any tuor ever again.)
Ostracism also works as an effective deterrent for bad behavior. If someone is a generally horrible person, but they don’t actually break any laws (child neglect, for example, is not a crime) the tuori will simply refuse to represent them. So a person who is uncivil, or does legal things of which nobody approves (such as not feeding their kids), or who doesn’t cooperate with the tuori system is left without any representation - effectively naked and undefended if anyone wanted to do them harm. As a result, ostracism is used among the more civil clans more often than physical punishment, and criminals will frequently pay for the privilege of staying within the tuori rather than being left to fend for themselves.
I should note, however, that there are people who choose not to be represented by any tuori voluntarily. Those are usually people with a lot of money to pay for protection of their own. They are often sought out as independent agencies to go after criminal bands and to raid accross foreign borders, which tuori are forbidden to do themselves. So if a campaign against a foreign threat becomes offensive, the independent agents will lead it and the tuori will send their soldiers to serve under their command. Marcail, the hero, is one of these independents (another vital plot point).
So, tell me what you think about it. It’s based on the Brehon laws of ancient Ireland, with a few modifications.
Be as frank and open as necessary.