A family murder in Great Smials?

[Formendacil]

Originally Posted by Inziladun

At any rate, there's no mention in the Prologue of the Thain having anything to do with law or criminal matters.

There's also no mention of the Mayor having much to do with a bureaucracy, though I put his duties in those terms. In fact, it's spoken of in much the same terms as the Thain: "a nominal dignity." I certainly don't dispute that the Thain would be unlikely to exercise any regal prerogatives; my point is more that, in Hobbit law, he'd still have them. After all, I agree that there wouldn't be a murder trial anything like what we would recognize as one--let alone an investigation we'd recognize. The Thain might never have to exercise his authority beyond the nominal military musters, but he'd still have that authority if it was ever required.