A Legal Compendium of Westeros, Essos, and Beyond
Maester Merry and I are back in the saddle again with Episode 2 of Learned Hands: The Official Podcast of the Westerosi Bar Association! In this episode we tackle the judicial record of the Honorable Justice Daenerys Targaryen in "Rabbit Queen: Does the Dany's Meereenese Court use Due Process or Deliver Justice?" Our analysis includes: … Continue reading Learned Hands Episode 2: “Rabbit Queen”
Delighted to announce that my essay Offer, Acceptance, Bread & Salt: A Legal Analysis of the Guest Right Contract, has won first place for the r/ASOIAF Best of 2019 awards in the "Best Book Analysis" category. This is a wonderful surprise, since I almost never use Reddit. Still, many many other people do! So this … Continue reading Best of 2019 Award from r/ASOIAF
Suppose you live in Westeros and you want to visit your neighbors. Great! But your neighbor also lives in Westeros, and Westerosi folks can get a little stabby. Yet, it's important that you and your neighbor have a peaceful conversation about uhhh crops or the state of the Realm or whatever bullshit without losing an appendage. Luckily for you, Westeros has a plan for that called "Guest Right". This practice of allowing guests safe conduct while under a host’s roof in exchange for a cessation of hostilities, is an entirely contractual relationship. One person gives something to another, and that person gives something right back. Like other contracts, there are certain formalities that must be observed for the contract to be properly binding.
Tyrion Lannister is a bad boy, always finding himself in trouble with the law. As a central figure of both A Song Of Ice And Fire and Game of Thrones, many if not most of the legal conundrums which arise in the main story concern the Imp, Tyrion Lannister. While both of his formal trials to date ended with trial by combat, they also provide the keenest insight we have as to how other trials work in Westeros. In this essay, I will attempt to explain and analyze the non-combat Trials of Tyrion Lannister from a legal perspective AND deduce which criminal procedure rights (if any) exist during trials in Westeros. This will service this blog's overall aim of determining once and for all the very close question of whether the Westerosi legal system overall is good or bad. This question will require a close reading to tease out the many nuances.
Listen to me and the wonderful Ian Thomas Malone put Season 8 of Game of Thrones in context with the rest of the show and the A Song of Ice and Fire series as a whole. We discuss Plato's philosopher kings, theories of statecraft, and popular sovereignty. We also give our Season 8 and Series MVPs, … Continue reading GoT Season 8/Series Review Podcast (+Bonus Episode!)
Late post but check out me, Sam the Player, and Tom Hankins on Ian Thomas Malone's great Estradiol Illusions podcast as we talk about The Bells. I manage to quote Federalist 51 and we discuss one or to minor things that happens in this second-to-last ever episode of Game of Thrones. LISTEN HERE
Introduction/Thesis All the teeth-gnashing over who will “win” the Game of Thrones may be somewhat misguided because we already have a form of the answer. The Spider himself, Lord Varys, told us very early on in the story who will sit on the Iron Throne at the end of both Game of Thrones and … Continue reading The End of Game of Thrones and the Shadow of Varys’ Riddle
Listen to me, Ian Thomas Malone, Alexandra August, and Tom Hankins talk on the One and Only Podcast recapping Game of Thrones about The Last of the Starks, and stay for my rant about a certain death that affected me deeply. We also get to say "balkanization" again! LISTEN HERE.
A Legal Analysis of the Trial Of Jaime Lannister, Such That It Was Factual Background At the end of Season 8, Episode 1, Zaddy Jaime Lannister arrives in Winterfell and is (presumably) immediately arrested and put on trial in the Great Hall at the start of Episode 2. First, Jaime is accused of Regicide by … Continue reading Justify Your Existence, Jaime Lannister
Listen to me, Ian Thomas Malone, Alexandra August, and Sam (The Player) Adolfo-Stark gush about perhaps my favorite episode of Game of Thrones... ever? I also continue to talk about Sovereignty in the North. But I mostly gush. A lot. LISTEN HERE
Laws Of Ice And Fire 