Code of Enlil

The code of Enlil, also called the law of Enlil, was the set of case laws developed by the god Enlil of the Untheric pantheon that formed the basis of the legal systems of Unther, Chessenta, and Turmish.

It described a wide variety of crimes, along with fitting punishments in a form of retributive justice.

Laws
In principle, the goals of the code of Enlil were to promote justice and bring enlightenment, and to destroy evil and end oppression.

It established the concept that a craftsman or laborer would be responsible for the quality of their work. For example, if a building collapsed because of faulty construction, the builder would be considered responsible.

By Faerûnian standards, the code of Enlil was harsh but fair. Its punishments were severed, but they were consistently applicable to all social classes, even slaves.

Punishment
The majority of punishments followed the "eye for an eye" principle. For example, a thief caught red-handed stealing something could lose that hand.

The crime of murder was punishable by death, no matter how it occurred. For example, the builder who constructed a faulty house that collapsed and killed the occupant would be executed.

History
After the code was developed by Enlil in ancient times, meting out justice in Unther was the domain of his priests. When Enlil left Toril in, it became the duty of the priests of his son, the god-king Gilgeam. He appointed regional justices to safeguard the code of Enlil and see that justice was done.

In Unther
Thus, the code of Enlil was followed in Unther, more or less as established, until around the mid–11 century DR, when Gilgeam turned to tyranny and the law became hopelessly corrupted to the point of non-existence. The judges cared little for justice, and even exploited their authority to intimidate, rob, and kill others. Nobles did as they pleased, breaking agreements as "just refusal of services", robbing others as "confiscating", committing murder as "summary execution", and worse. If two nobles took a dispute to Gilgeam, he ruled for the one he liked and punished the other according to his dislike. If a native Untheri noble or freeholder and a foreigner, then the foreigner always lost. If two foreigners, then they might well both be made slaves for was wasting the king's and his servants' time on trivial matters. As a result, mercenaries and assassins (most of them Chessentan, killers, and poisoners) were a more reliable way of getting justice or collecting debts for most freeholders and traders.