Talk:Laws of Stormwind/@comment-7246169-20150330174210/@comment-7246169-20150331144742

The point is to simply have it on the books so that a character with an axe to grind with a specific noble will not be able to use the punishment of said noble's peasants against him/her by dragging their name through the mud with a court case. It's all about painting a better picture of what rights Stormwind's nobility still have. The people who wrote the original document painted a very clear picture of the rights of citizens, but aside from a few basic points, the rights of the nobility have hardly been touched upon. What I'm attempting to do (When I have the time) is offer suggestions for these rights, based on research I've done.

There seems to be this common misconception that the nobility are all-powerful and entitled to crap all over the commonwealth, but that's simply not the case. Certainly not in the WoW universe, where we've seen what happens to the house of nobles under a strong Monarch. While they do have rights that extend far above those of the common citizen, they also have to shoulder a great deal more of the responsibility for the Kingdom itself. They can't just go around abusing the people who live and work on their land, or they won't have an income to support their vast estates. The taxes they pay go toward the maintenance of the Kingdom--be it roads, buildings, equipping the Stormwind Army, the Stormwind Guard, etc. Without the income these estates generate, the nobles would be broke, and the Kingdom would collapse.

With Stormwind being an absolute Monarchy, the King can call upon his nobles at any time to supply food, coin, and soldiers. The nobles have to maintain order on their estates so that the money and the goods produced on said estates continue to flow, thus keeping the machine that is the Kingdom running smoothly. If a noble can't keep order on his or her own estate, he or she is not going to have said estate very long.

So... Under the rights of the nobility, I'm hoping to paint a better picture of what the nobles are able to do on their own lands to keep order. Punishing thieves is important, because if people see thievery going unpunished, it's going to prompt more thievery. The Stormwind Guard patrols Stormwind City, but it can't possibly hope to maintain order in all the remote parts of the Kingdom, so the nobles need to hire their own men and maintain order in their own back yard. Let's face it... If the King felt as though he had to use the Stormwind Guard to keep order on all these estates, he certainly wouldn't bother having nobles at all.

As it stands, nobles govern their own lands (And sometimes entire regions, such as Hearthglen in Lordaeron, back when Tirion Fordring was its Governor) and must do so in acordance with the law of the Kingdom. It's a way of sharing the responsibility. The King can't possibly govern all parts of his Kingdom alone, so he tasks the nobility who are proven leaders, military officers, and essentially bred for such responsibility with the governance of parts of his Kingdom. In exchange for their service, these men and women are given land and titles, but bear the responsibility that comes with them.