> "...In Middle Earth, the legal system is largely feudal..."
Point taken, but I was mostly referring to the presence of magic in the hands of a few, leading to the need and desire for laws to constrain those few powerful ones, as the minimal price for living in the larger, non-magical society. Absent such controls, human nature + great power will inevitably lead to continued abuses, creating an unstable situation. Only two outcomes are really possible: Direct suppression of the muggles by the magic users, or special laws (with teeth) to restrain those magic users.