I am interested in the book by David Friedman and others called "Legal Systems Very Different from Ours". So far, I have read the first three chapters about ancient Chinese law, Roma (or 'gypsy') law and Jewish law. The book discusses 15 types of legal systems.
The ancient Chinese legal system is said to be focused on specifying the correct punishment for an offense. I found it surprising that some ancient scholars advocated not publishing the law. I thought knowing the law was basic to following it. But then I thought about my parents. They didn't specify all the laws I should follow, or to which they would hold me. If I "misbehaved", I was told that had I used good judgment and common sense, I would have known not to act as I did. Maybe growing up among unspecified, "secret" laws helped give me the quiet and cautious character I sometimes exhibit.
I read that despite trying to stipulate the correct punishment for every possible offence, there evidently were times when some person managed to commit an act that people didn't like, but was not mentioned in the law. In that case, judges were allowed to find the offender "guilty of doing what ought not to be done."
I would not have guessed that I would get a laugh reading such a book but I did. I read there were three kinds of executions carried out: beheading, strangulation and "death by slicing" - cuts and amputation until death ensued. Strangulation was considered a milder punishment since the ancient Chinese, like many others, tried to take into consideration events in the afterlife. "...since mutilation of the body was held to have undesirable post-mortem consequences", dying with the body all in one piece was preferable.
Friedman, David. Legal Systems Very Different from Ours . School of Law, Santa Clara University. Kindle Edition.
The clearest case of being surprised by discovering I had broken a law I didn't realize existed was eating a piece of cherry pie in a restaurant. After separating a small bit off using my fork, I ate it. I suddenly realized that I could simply break bite-sized pieces from all of the portion - you know, in the interest of efficiency. My mother was very unhappy with my table manners.
