
Somali Law - Tomte
http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Academic/Legal_Systems_Draft/Systems/SomaliLawChapter.html
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Sniffnoy
Note that this is just one chapter in the larger book, "Legal Systems Very
Different From Ours":

[http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Academic/Course_Pages/legal_sy...](http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Academic/Course_Pages/legal_systems_very_different_12/LegalSystemsDraft.html)

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exratione
You might also compare this with the traditional system of distributed dispute
resolution that held sway in Iceland at the time of the sagas. While quite
different cultures, many similar solutions and incentives acted to minimize
violence between familial groups. In that case the system failed when it fell
out of decentralization and into control of a sufficiently small elite for
them to become a defacto government, but it took 300 years to reach that
failure case.

A very high-level summary: [https://mises.org/library/medieval-iceland-and-
absence-gover...](https://mises.org/library/medieval-iceland-and-absence-
government)

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ycmbntrthrwaway
"Machinery of Freedom" by the same author:
[http://daviddfriedman.com/The_Machinery_of_Freedom_.pdf](http://daviddfriedman.com/The_Machinery_of_Freedom_.pdf)

The chapter "Private law enforcement, medieval iceland, and libertarianism" is
specifically about Iceland.

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atom-morgan
A fantastic book in general for those interested in political theory.

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bennettfeely
Related:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xeer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xeer)

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nfbush
Somali Law (daviddfriedman.com) 70 points by Tomte 8 hours ago | past | web |
9 comments

Somali Law (daviddfriedman.com) 2 points by Tomte 41 days ago | past | web

Somali Law (daviddfriedman.com) 4 points by Tomte 75 days ago | past | web

Somali Law (daviddfriedman.com) 1 point by Tomte 116 days ago | past | web

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benologist
Resubmissions are allowed and there's even a thing for moderators to automate
it hours or maybe days later on submissions they like.

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nfbush
not saying it isn't, just a comment I think people could be interested in

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knughit
I am sure this has a lot of appeal for libertarians. One has to ask, though,
can this system of law support a high-GNP economy, with high-efficiency
complex interactions among strangers.

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bsbechtel
Somalia is often brought up by Libertarians as an example of a distributed
legal system. The argument is that Somalia has done better than their African
peers over recent years...no idea if that is still the case or not.

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jessaustin
IME it's far more often brought up as a cautionary example by
"antilibertarians". As in, if we limit the authority of some official
government agency in some small fashion, we'll soon live in a poor violent
sub-Saharan hellhole. (Not my characterization, but rather that of the
antilibertarians.)

