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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