How did ancient empires account for slow propagation of information e.g. in their legal codes?
Upvote:2
I'd say that accounting for propagation delay explicitly with the day + n method is the exception rather than the rule. The most common accounting for this is to consider the law/edict in effect only when it is officially received.
Thus the process goes like this:
- After drafting the edict, the sovereign signs or seals an edict, indicating authenticity and preventing tampering
- The edict is sent via messengers to the recipient
- Receiving the edict is sometimes a ritual, and the messenger bears witness to the event. From this moment on the edict is in effect
Obviously the messenger service is a highly privileged one, with severe consequences for any obstruction.
For example, the process of announcing an edict applicable to the entire Qing Empire was very elaborate:
- The edict was drafted by the innermost cabinet,
- edited by the Grand Secretariat,
- written and signed/sealed by the Emperor according to a specific format,
- taken to the top of Tiananmen and read aloud as a ceremony,
- taken to the Ministry of Rites and multiple copies made,
- each copy sent to regional governors, who would in turn repeat the reading, copying and sending steps until the edict reached all levels of government
Upvote:4
See article II of the Treaty of Ghent, ending the War of 1812. http://war1812.tripod.com/treaty.html
It lays out a series of delay times for many different parts of the world for the terms of the Treaty to come into effect.
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