Social Function and Law

Back to Current Religion Analysis Framework
Social Function and Law

Social Function and Law

Kingship ties; oaths and taboos; purity/pollution regimes; moral codes; how religion structures order and cohesion.
Why: isolates the Durkheim/Douglas layer from cosmology or ritual.

Social Function and Law

How does this religion organize collective life, define persons and relationships, assign rights and duties, legitimate or resist power, regulate conduct and purity, distribute resources and care, settle disputes, punish violations, and determine how its normative order relates to other communities and systems of law?

Divine command and revealed law; custom, precedent, conscience, natural law, sacred order, communal expectation, and institutional regulation; political legitimacy, kingship, citizenship, resistance, and state relations; moral agency, virtue, vice, sin, guilt, shame, pollution, taboo, and social reputation; membership, kinship, marriage, sexuality, gender, childhood, inheritance, caste, class, ethnicity, labor, property, commerce, charity, education, welfare, health, disability, speech, oaths, conflict, punishment, reconciliation, and peace; legal interpretation, jurisdiction, adjudication, evidence, sanctions, appeals, reform, legal pluralism, compliance, enforcement, social cohesion, exclusion, inequality, care, and collective resilience.

Why: The original framework assigns this dimension kingship, oaths, taboos, purity and pollution regimes, moral codes, and the ways religion structures social order and cohesion. Its governing boundary is that these matters must be analyzed as the religion’s collective and normative order, rather than being mixed into cosmology, supernatural belief, or ritual performance. The framework specifically separates religion’s social function from belief content and places purity, taboo, and boundary systems within this dimension.

Purpose of This Dimension

Social Function and Law reconstructs the complete normative and social architecture through which a religion orders human life.

It must determine:

  1. What sources the tradition recognizes as morally, socially, or legally authoritative.
  2. Who is subject to each norm.
  3. What actions, omissions, intentions, identities, statuses, relationships, and institutions are regulated.
  4. Which norms are commands, prohibitions, permissions, recommendations, ideals, customs, taboos, purity requirements, or jurisdictional rules.
  5. How norms are interpreted, prioritized, applied, enforced, contested, suspended, and changed.
  6. What rights, protections, immunities, obligations, disabilities, privileges, and burdens attach to different persons and groups.
  7. How religion defines family, kinship, gender, sexuality, property, work, authority, education, care, citizenship, and communal membership.
  8. How wrongdoing is classified and what consequences follow.
  9. How disputes are heard, what evidence is accepted, who decides, and what appeals exist.
  10. How religious norms interact with state law, customary law, international norms, professional regulation, and other religions.
  11. How official normative teaching differs from lived conduct, selective observance, local custom, and informal social pressure.
  12. What social functions the norms actually perform.
  13. Who benefits from a rule and who bears its burdens.
  14. Whether a practice promotes solidarity, care, justice, resistance, exclusion, inequality, fear, or several of these simultaneously.
  15. How the normative system changes through reform, migration, persecution, colonization, secularization, social movements, and technological change.
  16. What evidence supports every claim about law, ethics, social order, enforcement, and social consequences.
  17. Which matters remain disputed, restricted, undocumented, historically uncertain, or jurisdictionally variable.

The completed section should produce four integrated outputs:

Nine-Layer Social-Legal Analysis Standard

Every major norm or institution should be examined through nine separate layers.

Layer 1 — Emic Normative Meaning

What does the tradition itself say the rule is, where it comes from, and why it binds?

Layer 2 — Formal Normative Status

Is the rule scriptural, legal, customary, institutional, advisory, doctrinal, ritual, or contested?

Layer 3 — Lived Practice

What do adherents actually do?

Layer 4 — Interpretation and Administration

Who interprets, applies, dispenses, adjudicates, or teaches the norm?

Layer 5 — Enforcement

What formal and informal mechanisms encourage compliance?

Layer 6 — Social Function

What does the norm do within collective life?

Layer 7 — Distributional Effect

Who gains authority, protection, status, resources, or security—and who bears restriction, stigma, labor, risk, or exclusion?

Layer 8 — External Legal Relationship

How does the norm relate to civil law, constitutional law, human-rights law, customary law, or another religious jurisdiction?

Layer 9 — Historical and Evidentiary Status

When and where did the rule operate, and how securely is that known?

A rule has not been comprehensively analyzed until all nine layers have been addressed.

Complete Norm Record Standard

A description is not complete merely because it says:

“The religion prohibits certain foods and requires charity.”

For every major norm, record:

Complete Social-Function Claim Standard

A description is not complete merely because it says:

“The ritual promotes social cohesion.”

For every claimed social function, establish:

Foundational Analytical Distinctions

1. Law versus Ethics

Law ordinarily concerns norms recognized as binding through an authoritative system, often with institutions, procedures, and sanctions.

Ethics concerns judgments about right conduct, character, obligation, value, and the good life.

A religious ethic may guide conduct without functioning as enforceable law. A religious law may regulate conduct without claiming to form virtue.

2. Law versus Custom

Law may be consciously formulated and adjudicated.

Custom may acquire authority through inherited practice, communal expectation, or long usage.

A custom may be treated as binding without being written. A written law may remain ineffective because custom governs actual behavior.

3. Law versus Advice

A teaching may be:

Do not convert every moral teaching into law.

4. Law versus Doctrine

A doctrine states what is believed or taught.

A law states what is required, prohibited, permitted, or legally consequential.

A doctrine may support a law, but doctrinal assent and legal compliance remain distinct.

5. Divine Command versus Human Interpretation

A tradition may regard a rule as divinely revealed while recognizing that:

The claim of divine origin does not eliminate human legal reasoning.

6. Sacred Law versus Cosmic Law

Sacred law regulates human conduct through religious authority.

Cosmic law describes the order of reality, causation, fate, karma, truth, or balance.

Human law may claim to reflect cosmic law, but the two must not be treated as identical.

7. Religious Law versus State Law

Religious law may govern:

State law may recognize, regulate, override, prohibit, or ignore those rules.

A religiously valid act may be civilly invalid. A civilly valid act may be religiously unrecognized.

8. Sin versus Crime

A sin is an offense against a religious, moral, or divine order.

A crime is an offense recognized by a political legal system.

Some acts are both. Some are one but not the other.

9. Wrongdoing versus Impurity

A person may become impure without moral fault through:

Impurity is not automatically guilt, sin, inferiority, or criminality.

10. Taboo versus Prohibition

A prohibition forbids conduct.

A taboo may additionally mark:

A taboo may apply even without intentional wrongdoing.

11. Guilt versus Shame

Religious systems may emphasize one, both, or neither.

12. Conduct versus Status

Some norms regulate what a person does.

Others attach consequences to what a person is classified as:

Status-based regulation must be identified explicitly.

13. Individual versus Collective Responsibility

A system may assign consequences to:

Collective responsibility must not be assumed from individual rules or vice versa.

14. Intention versus External Act

A norm may judge:

Different traditions assign different weight to internal and external conduct.

15. Commission versus Omission

Religious wrongdoing may consist in:

16. Capacity versus Culpability

Responsibility may depend on:

A complete account must record how diminished responsibility is handled.

17. Rights versus Duties

Some traditions formulate social order primarily through individual rights.

Others formulate it through:

Do not force rights-language where the emic system is duty-centered, but do not ignore the actual protections or vulnerabilities created.

18. Equality versus Hierarchy

A religion may teach equal spiritual worth while maintaining unequal:

Equality claims must be specified by domain.

19. Equity versus Uniformity

Treating everyone identically is not necessarily the same as treating everyone justly.

Some systems recognize different obligations based on:

The justification and effects of differentiation must be analyzed.

20. Public versus Private Conduct

A system may regulate:

The boundary between public and private may itself be religiously defined.

21. Universal versus Group-Specific Law

A norm may apply to:

Do not universalize a rule addressed to a particular class.

22. Formal Sanction versus Informal Pressure

Formal sanctions may include:

Informal sanctions may include:

Informal enforcement may be more powerful than official law.

23. Spiritual Sanction versus Material Sanction

A sanction may be understood as:

These categories must be kept distinct.

24. Retributive versus Restorative Justice

A system may combine both.

25. Mercy versus Discretion

Mercy may mitigate deserved punishment.

Discretion may concern whether a rule applies, how evidence is weighed, or which remedy is chosen.

Do not treat all exceptions as mercy.

26. Legal Validity versus Moral Legitimacy

A rule may be legally valid within a religious system while morally contested by:

Validity and legitimacy must be reported separately.

27. Legitimacy versus Power

A ruler, institution, or specialist may possess coercive power without recognized legitimacy.

Another may possess moral legitimacy without effective enforcement power.

28. Solidarity versus Conformity

Shared practice may create solidarity.

It may also pressure members to conceal dissent or suppress difference.

High conformity is not automatically evidence of voluntary cohesion.

29. Cohesion versus Exclusion

A strong insider identity may depend upon:

Every claim of cohesion must identify its boundary costs.

30. Social Function versus Actor Intention

A practice may perform a social function that participants do not consciously intend.

A norm may be consciously intended to create unity but fail to do so.

Function and intention must remain distinct.

31. Manifest versus Latent Function

Both may be positive, negative, or mixed.

32. Social Order versus Social Control

Social order may make cooperation possible.

Social control may regulate behavior through surveillance, shame, discipline, authority, and exclusion.

The same institution may provide both security and coercion.

33. Charity versus Justice

Charity provides voluntary or commanded assistance.

Justice concerns rightful distribution, obligation, entitlement, and structural fairness.

A welfare system may be charitable without challenging the causes of deprivation.

34. Religious Freedom versus Religious Authority

An institution may claim authority over members.

Members may also claim:

The relationship between these claims must be examined.

35. Autonomy versus Accountability

Religious institutions may require freedom from state interference to preserve doctrine and practice.

Autonomy does not automatically remove obligations concerning:

36. Internal Pluralism versus One Legal System

A single religion may contain:

Do not fabricate one unified code.

37. Codified versus Uncodified Normativity

Rules may exist through:

Absence of a written code does not mean absence of law.

38. Rule versus Enforcement

A strict textual rule may be rarely enforced.

A mild customary rule may be socially unavoidable.

The existence of a norm, frequency of enforcement, and severity of effect must be measured separately.

39. Compliance versus Identification

A person may identify with the religion while ignoring major norms.

Another may follow religiously shaped norms without identifying as an adherent.

40. Historical Law versus Current Law

A rule documented in an ancient or medieval source must not be presented as the religion’s contemporary law unless current authorities and communities continue to recognize it.

Every current legal claim must be dated and located by jurisdiction.

Governing Principles

1. Begin with Indigenous Normative Categories

Identify the tradition’s own terms for:

2. Do Not Assume Every Religion Has a Legal Code

Some traditions organize life through:

A code-centered analysis would distort them.

3. Do Not Reduce Religion to Social Control

Religious norms may genuinely aim at:

Social-control effects must be analyzed without replacing emic meaning.

4. Do Not Romanticize Cohesion

Ask:

5. Analyze Benefits and Burdens Together

Every norm should be examined for:

6. Distinguish Norm from Implementation

Record separately:

7. Include Noncompliance

Noncompliance may reveal:

8. Include Marginalized Legal Voices

Investigate:

9. Record Who Interprets and Who Is Interpreted

A rule may be written by one class and applied to another.

Authority over interpretation is itself part of the social order.

10. Date and Locate Every Norm

A rule may be:

11. Map Legal Pluralism

A person may simultaneously be subject to:

12. Distinguish Recognition from Enforcement

A state may recognize religious marriages without enforcing every religious marital rule.

A religious court may issue decisions that depend on voluntary compliance.

13. Treat Current Law as Jurisdiction-Specific

Contemporary claims must specify:

This framework is analytical; it does not replace qualified legal advice concerning a live dispute.

14. Preserve Internal Legal Reasoning

Do not summarize a rule only by its result. Record:

15. Distinguish Official Doctrine from Lived Morality

Ordinary adherents may prioritize:

These may differ from official legal teaching.

16. Include Informal Enforcement

Observe:

17. Do Not Infer Consent from Compliance

Compliance may reflect:

18. Separate Description from Endorsement

A rigorous account may describe historically significant discriminatory, violent, or coercive rules without treating them as justified or current.

19. Avoid Presentist Simplification

Do not interpret a historical norm solely through current categories without reconstructing its original legal and social world.

Do not use historical context to excuse harm or erase affected persons.

20. Include Reform and Countertraditions

Religious traditions often contain internal resources for:

21. Distinguish Formal Equality from Actual Outcome

A rule may be textually neutral but produce unequal outcomes because of:

22. Preserve Procedural Detail

A legal system cannot be evaluated solely by its substantive rules. Record:

23. Evaluate Enforcement Selectivity

Ask whether rules are enforced differently according to:

24. Include Social Consequences Beyond Law

A religious norm may affect:

25. Use Evidence Critically

Official codes, royal inscriptions, institutional policies, ethnography, court records, and oral testimony represent different social layers. Evidence must be graded for authenticity, independence, and representativeness while keeping insider and outsider analyses distinct.

Comprehensive Social Function and Law Template

Part I — Scope, Terminology, Census, and Evidentiary Control

1. Social-Legal Scope Lock

Questions to answer

Required scope statement

This analysis examines the moral, legal, political, economic, familial, purity, disciplinary, and communal order of [religious unit] across [periods, regions, and branches], including [normative systems and institutions] and excluding [specified exclusions]. Contemporary legal relationships are stated by jurisdiction and date.

2. Applicability of “Law,” “Ethics,” and “Social Function”

Questions to answer

3. Indigenous Normative Lexicon

For every major term, record:

Terms to identify where applicable

4. Master Norm Census

Minimum fields

Include

5. Normative Status Classification

Classify each norm as:

6. Master Social-Order Census

Inventory all socially significant units:

For each, record

7. Legal Source Census

Inventory:

8. Norm Hierarchy

Questions to answer

Required hierarchy table

SourceRankScopeInterpreterCan overrideCan be overridden by

9. Legal-Person and Status Census

Identify every legally or morally significant status:

Questions to answer

10. Authority and Jurisdiction Map

Map who may:

11. Evidence and Confidence

Questions to answer

12. Confidentiality and Sensitive Legal Data

Questions to answer

Part II — Sources and Architecture of Normative Authority

13. Ultimate Source of Normativity

Questions to answer

14. Revelation and Divine Command

Questions to answer

15. Scripture and Canon

Questions to answer

16. Tradition and Custom

Questions to answer

17. Reason, Natural Law, and Moral Knowledge

Questions to answer

18. Conscience

Questions to answer

19. Institutional Authority

Questions to answer

20. Community Consensus

Questions to answer

21. Precedent and Case-Based Reasoning

Questions to answer

22. Charismatic and Prophetic Authority

Questions to answer

23. Political and State Authority

Questions to answer

24. Hierarchy and Conflict of Sources

Questions to answer

25. Legal Interpretation and Hermeneutics

Methods may include

Questions to answer

26. Codification

Questions to answer

27. Promulgation and Notice

Questions to answer

28. Scope of Application

Questions to answer

29. Capacity and Responsibility

Questions to answer

30. Acts, Omissions, Intentions, and Consequences

Questions to answer

31. Exceptions, Exemptions, and Dispensations

Possible grounds

Questions to answer

32. Change, Abrogation, and Development

Questions to answer

33. Jurisdiction

Questions to answer

34. Legal Pluralism

Questions to answer

35. Relationship to Civil and Constitutional Law

Questions to answer

36. Institutional Autonomy and Religious Freedom

Questions to answer

Part III — Moral Agency, Character, Responsibility, and Repair

37. Nature of the Moral Person

Questions to answer

38. Free Will, Determination, and Moral Agency

Questions to answer

39. Intention, Knowledge, and Motive

Questions to answer

40. Age and Moral Capacity

Questions to answer

41. Conscience and Interior Life

Questions to answer

42. Virtue and Character

Questions to answer

43. Vice, Sin, Error, and Transgression

Questions to answer

44. Guilt, Shame, Pollution, Debt, and Dishonor

Questions to answer

45. Individual and Collective Responsibility

Questions to answer

46. Repentance, Confession, Restitution, and Amendment

Questions to answer

47. Mercy, Forgiveness, Pardon, and Reconciliation

Questions to answer

Part IV — Membership, Boundaries, Community, and Social Identity

48. Membership and Belonging

Questions to answer

49. Admission and Conversion

Questions to answer

50. Exit and Apostasy

Questions to answer

51. Excommunication, Expulsion, Shunning, and Restricted Communion

Questions to answer

52. Insiders, Outsiders, Heretics, and Rivals

Questions to answer

53. Ethnicity, Peoplehood, Nation, and Descent

Questions to answer

54. Caste, Class, Rank, and Status Hierarchy

Questions to answer

55. Honor, Shame, Reputation, and Social Standing

Questions to answer

56. Solidarity and Mutual Trust

Questions to answer

57. Hospitality, Guesthood, and the Stranger

Questions to answer

58. Minority and Vulnerable Communities

Questions to answer

Part V — Family, Kinship, Gender, Sexuality, and Generational Order

59. Kinship

Questions to answer

60. Marriage Formation

Questions to answer

61. Marriage Rights and Duties

Questions to answer

62. Divorce, Separation, and Annulment

Questions to answer

63. Sexual Ethics

Questions to answer

64. Gender Roles and Authority

Questions to answer

65. Conception, Fertility, and Reproduction

Questions to answer

66. Children

Questions to answer

67. Adoption, Guardianship, Fosterage, and Ritual Parentage

Questions to answer

68. Inheritance and Succession

Questions to answer

69. Elders and Intergenerational Duties

Questions to answer

70. Household Authority

Questions to answer

71. Interreligious and Intergroup Marriage

Questions to answer

Part VI — Body, Purity, Food, Dress, Health, and Sacred Time

72. Purity and Pollution

Questions to answer

The acts of purification belong under Ritual and Practice; the normative classification belongs here.

73. Taboo

Questions to answer

74. Food and Dietary Law

Questions to answer

75. Intoxicants and Psychoactive Substances

Questions to answer

76. Dress, Grooming, Hair, and Bodily Presentation

Questions to answer

77. Bodily Modification and Marking

Questions to answer

78. Menstruation, Childbirth, Sexual Fluids, and Bodily Processes

Questions to answer

79. Health, Illness, and Medicine

Questions to answer

80. Disability

Questions to answer

81. Death, Burial, and Corpse-Related Norms

Questions to answer

Postmortem doctrine belongs under Death and Afterlife; legal and social obligations belong here.

82. Work, Rest, and Sacred Time

Questions to answer

Part VII — Property, Economy, Labor, Welfare, and Environmental Order

83. Property

Questions to answer

84. Land and Territory

Questions to answer

85. Wealth, Poverty, and Economic Inequality

Questions to answer

86. Trade and Commerce

Questions to answer

87. Contract, Promise, and Exchange

Questions to answer

88. Debt, Credit, Interest, and Insolvency

Questions to answer

89. Labor and Employment

Questions to answer

90. Slavery, Servitude, Bondage, and Dependency

Questions to answer

91. Taxation, Tithes, Dues, and Religious Levies

Questions to answer

92. Charity, Almsgiving, and Redistribution

Questions to answer

93. Welfare and Mutual Aid

Questions to answer

94. Corruption, Bribery, Simony, and Misuse of Office

Questions to answer

95. Consumption, Luxury, Simplicity, and Display

Questions to answer

96. Animals, Land, Water, and Environmental Duties

Questions to answer

Part VIII — Political Legitimacy, Citizenship, Conflict, and Public Order

97. Political Legitimacy

Questions to answer

98. Kingship and Sacred Rulership

Questions to answer

99. Government and Political Form

Questions to answer

100. Citizenship, Subjecthood, and Political Membership

Questions to answer

101. Public Office

Questions to answer

102. Obedience, Resistance, and Civil Disobedience

Questions to answer

103. Nationalism and Civil Religion

Questions to answer

104. Religious Freedom and Pluralism

Questions to answer

105. Church–State or Institution–State Relations

Possible models

Questions to answer

106. War

Questions to answer

107. Peace, Treaty, Reconciliation, and Nonviolence

Questions to answer

108. Public Security and Policing

Questions to answer

109. Sacred Offenses Against Public Order

Possible categories

Questions to answer

Part IX — Speech, Knowledge, Education, Oaths, and Information Order

110. Truthfulness, Deception, and Speech Ethics

Questions to answer

111. Blasphemy and Sacred Speech

Questions to answer

112. Heresy and Doctrinal Dissent

Questions to answer

113. Apostasy and Religious Exit

Questions to answer

114. Oaths, Testimony, and Promise

Questions to answer

The spoken performance belongs under Ritual and Practice; the binding effect belongs here.

115. Confidentiality, Secrecy, and Disclosure

Questions to answer

116. Education

Questions to answer

117. Literacy, Language, and Translation

Questions to answer

118. Media, Art, Publication, and Public Expression

Questions to answer

119. Digital Conduct, Data, and Emerging Technologies

Questions to answer

Part X — Justice, Procedure, Evidence, Sanctions, and Repair

120. Adjudicative Forums

Possible forums

Questions to answer

121. Standing and Complaint Initiation

Questions to answer

122. Investigation

Questions to answer

123. Evidence

Possible evidence

Questions to answer

124. Burden and Standard of Proof

Questions to answer

125. Hearing and Due Process

Questions to answer

126. Representation and Advocacy

Questions to answer

127. Judgment and Reasoned Decision

Questions to answer

128. Sanctions

Possible sanctions

Questions to answer

129. Restitution and Reparation

Questions to answer

130. Restorative Justice and Reconciliation

Questions to answer

131. Appeal and Review

Questions to answer

132. Enforcement

Questions to answer

133. Mercy, Pardon, Commutation, and Dispensation

Questions to answer

134. Records, Publicity, and Precedent

Questions to answer

135. Procedural Fairness

Assess

136. Conflict of Laws

Questions to answer

Part XI — Social Functions, Effects, and Distribution

137. Identity Formation

Questions to answer

138. Solidarity and Collective Belonging

Questions to answer

139. Socialization

Questions to answer

140. Trust, Cooperation, and Predictability

Questions to answer

141. Collective Memory

Questions to answer

142. Redistribution and Welfare

Questions to answer

143. Dispute Resolution

Questions to answer

144. Political Legitimacy

Questions to answer

145. Resistance and Liberation

Questions to answer

146. Social Control and Surveillance

Questions to answer

147. Boundary Maintenance and Exclusion

Questions to answer

148. Hierarchy and Inequality

Questions to answer

149. Gendered Effects

Questions to answer

150. Class and Economic Effects

Questions to answer

151. Demographic Reproduction

Questions to answer

152. Health and Well-Being

Questions to answer

153. Crisis Resilience

Questions to answer

154. Diaspora and Minority Cohesion

Questions to answer

155. Social Capital and Networks

Questions to answer

156. Education and Literacy

Questions to answer

157. Political Mobilization

Questions to answer

158. Violence and Peace

Questions to answer

159. Dysfunction, Harm, and Unintended Effects

Possible harms

Questions to answer

160. Social-Function Measurement

Possible evidence

Questions to answer

Part XII — Lived Law, Compliance, Enforcement, and Variation

161. Knowledge of the Rules

Questions to answer

162. Compliance

Questions to answer

163. Evasion and Strategic Compliance

Questions to answer

164. Official Law and Popular Custom

Questions to answer

165. Enforcement Capacity

Questions to answer

166. Selective Enforcement

Questions to answer

167. Social Sanctions

Questions to answer

168. Stigma

Questions to answer

169. Local Adaptation

Questions to answer

170. Case Studies and Microhistory

For representative disputes, record:

Part XIII — Reform, Adaptation, Rights, and Contemporary Transformation

171. Internal Mechanisms of Legal Change

Possible mechanisms

Questions to answer

172. Reform Movements

Questions to answer

173. Codification and Modernization

Questions to answer

174. Abolition and Repudiation

Questions to answer

175. Human Rights

Questions to answer

176. Gender Reform

Questions to answer

177. Caste, Race, Ethnicity, and Anti-Discrimination Reform

Questions to answer

178. Disability Reform

Questions to answer

179. Sexuality, Marriage, and Family Reform

Questions to answer

180. Economic and Labor Reform

Questions to answer

181. Environmental Reform

Questions to answer

182. Decolonization

Questions to answer

183. Migration and Diaspora Adaptation

Questions to answer

184. Secularization and Privatization

Questions to answer

185. Digital and Technological Transformation

Questions to answer

Part XIV — Universal Norm, Case, Institution, and Social-Function Dossiers

186. Universal Norm Dossier

Required fields

Norm synthesis

[Norm] is a [norm type] governing [conduct or status], derived from [authority], binding upon [persons], interpreted by [authority], subject to [exceptions], and enforced through [formal and informal mechanisms].

187. Universal Legal Corpus Dossier

Record

188. Universal Legal Case Dossier

Record

189. Universal Social Institution Dossier

Record

190. Universal Social-Function Dossier

Required fields

191. Universal Legal-Pluralism Dossier

Record

192. Universal Reform Dossier

Record

Part XV — Required Analytical Outputs

193. Complete Normative Corpus Map

Show:

194. Norm-Hierarchy Diagram

Show:

195. Person-and-Status Matrix

StatusHow acquiredRightsDutiesRestrictionsAuthority over statusExit or change

196. Rights-and-Duties Matrix

Person or groupRights or protectionsPositive dutiesProhibitionsEnforcing authorityExceptions

197. Purity-and-Taboo Matrix

Condition or contactClassificationPersons affectedConsequenceDurationRemoval or remedySocial effect

198. Family-and-Kinship Law Matrix

Show:

199. Economic-Law Matrix

Show:

200. Political-Legitimacy Matrix

Office or polityClaimed legitimacyReligious authorityLimitsDutiesResistance conditionsHistorical variants

201. Legal-Process Flowchart

Complaint → jurisdiction → investigation → evidence → hearing → judgment → sanction or remedy → appeal → enforcement → restoration or closure.

202. Sanction Matrix

ViolationSpiritual sanctionRitual sanctionSocial sanctionInstitutional sanctionCivil consequenceRestoration

203. Legal-Pluralism Map

Show:

204. Compliance and Enforcement Profile

Record:

205. Social-Function Matrix

Norm, ritual, or institutionManifest functionLatent functionBeneficiariesBurdened groupsEvidenceConfidence

206. Distributional-Impact Matrix

Track effects by:

207. Reform and Legal-Change Timeline

Show:

208. Official–Lived Law Comparison

TopicFormal ruleAuthoritative interpretationCommon practiceLocal customEnforcementCurrent dispute

209. Evidence and Confidence Ledger

Every major claim linked to:

210. Final Social-Legal Synthesis

One-sentence system statement

[Religion] orders collective life through [principal sources and normative forms], regulating [major domains], administered by [authorities], enforced through [formal and informal mechanisms], and socially functioning to produce [principal forms of solidarity, care, hierarchy, boundary, resistance, or conflict].

Expanded synthesis

The final analysis should identify:

Mandatory Social Function and Law Deliverables

A completed analysis must contain all of the following.

1. Social-legal scope declaration

Religion, branches, regions, periods, normative systems, jurisdictions, exclusions, and cutoff date.

2. Terminology-applicability statement

Whether law, ethics, sin, crime, purity, taboo, justice, rights, duty, caste, and related terms are appropriate.

3. Indigenous normative lexicon

Original terms, scripts, pronunciations, meanings, contrasts, and translation limits.

4. Complete norm census

Every law, command, prohibition, permission, recommendation, virtue, taboo, custom, policy, and status rule.

5. Complete social-order census

Every person, status, group, household, institution, class, caste, gender group, age group, and outsider category.

6. Legal-source census

Revelation, scripture, custom, reason, conscience, precedent, institution, community, and state.

7. Norm hierarchy

Priority, conflict, override, interpretation, and amendment.

8. Authority map

Rulemaking, interpretation, dispensation, adjudication, enforcement, forgiveness, and appeal.

9. Jurisdiction map

Territorial, personal, functional, household, institutional, state, and transnational authority.

10. Legal-pluralism profile

Religious, customary, state, professional, familial, and international systems.

11. Complete norm dossiers

One standardized dossier for every major rule.

12. Legal-corpus dossiers

Every scripture, code, commentary, precedent collection, customary corpus, and policy system.

13. Legal-status matrix

Every significant religious, familial, political, economic, and purity status.

14. Rights-and-duties matrix

Protections, privileges, obligations, restrictions, and remedies.

15. Moral-agency profile

Personhood, freedom, intention, capacity, ignorance, coercion, and responsibility.

16. Virtue-and-vice profile

Ideal character, prohibited dispositions, formation, conflict, and evaluation.

17. Sin–crime–pollution distinction

Every category, relationship, consequence, and remedy.

18. Collective-responsibility profile

Household, lineage, community, institutional, national, ancestral, and intergenerational liability.

19. Repentance-and-restoration profile

Confession, restitution, forgiveness, reconciliation, readmission, and proof of amendment.

20. Membership-and-boundary profile

Admission, conversion, belonging, dual affiliation, exit, apostasy, expulsion, and reentry.

21. Outsider-and-minority profile

Rights, duties, hospitality, toleration, conversion, protection, and exclusion.

22. Caste, class, rank, and social-status profile

Formation, privileges, duties, movement, discrimination, abolition, and persistence.

23. Honor-and-reputation profile

Sources, sanctions, gendered effects, collective effects, and restoration.

24. Family-and-kinship law profile

Marriage, divorce, sexuality, reproduction, children, adoption, inheritance, elders, and household authority.

25. Gender-and-sexuality profile

Categories, roles, office, property, family, body, reform, and dissent.

26. Child-rights and safeguarding profile

Capacity, education, consent, marriage, discipline, health, custody, and protection.

27. Purity-and-pollution profile

Sources, transmission, consequences, duration, social hierarchy, and removal.

28. Taboo profile

Persons, places, words, foods, objects, times, sanctions, and exceptions.

29. Food-and-dietary law profile

Classification, preparation, timing, access, exceptions, industry, and diaspora.

30. Dress-and-body law profile

Clothing, grooming, modesty, bodily marking, status, coercion, and accommodation.

31. Health-and-medicine profile

Treatment, refusal, public health, spiritual healing, clinical care, disability, and end-of-life issues.

32. Disability profile

Status, access, office, family, purity, care, accommodation, and reform.

33. Sacred-time and work profile

Rest, labor, exceptions, employee rights, economic effects, and state accommodation.

34. Property-and-land profile

Ownership, stewardship, inheritance, common property, sacred land, and alienation.

35. Commerce-and-contract profile

Trade, fair dealing, fraud, promises, witnesses, remedies, and market regulation.

36. Debt-and-finance profile

Interest, lending, insolvency, debt relief, banking, investment, and exploitation.

37. Labor profile

Wages, work duties, rest, safety, freedom, unions, religious labor, and exploitation.

38. Slavery-and-servitude history

Forms, regulation, resistance, abolition, theological debate, and surviving effects.

39. Taxation-and-religious-levy profile

Tithes, dues, taxes, exemptions, collection, auditing, and sanctions.

40. Charity-and-welfare profile

Giving, beneficiaries, institutions, rights, conditionality, effectiveness, and stigma.

41. Corruption-and-financial-ethics profile

Bribery, simony, nepotism, donor power, audit, fraud, and discipline.

42. Environmental-and-animal law profile

Land, water, species, killing, pollution, resource use, future generations, and climate.

43. Political-legitimacy profile

Rulers, states, constitutions, sacred authority, public office, and limits.

44. Obedience-and-resistance profile

Loyalty, conscience, civil disobedience, revolution, nonviolence, and martyrdom.

45. Citizenship-and-national-identity profile

Membership, minority status, oaths, duties, public symbols, and civil religion.

46. Religious-freedom profile

Belief, worship, expression, conversion, exit, minority protection, and institutional autonomy.

47. War-and-peace profile

Authority, just cause, conduct, noncombatants, pacifism, treaty, reconciliation, and objection.

48. Speech-and-truth profile

Lying, gossip, testimony, confidentiality, blasphemy, heresy, apostasy, publication, and dissent.

49. Education-and-knowledge profile

Literacy, curriculum, access, language, censorship, authority, and digital learning.

50. Digital-and-technology profile

Privacy, data, surveillance, online conduct, AI, biotechnology, identity, and jurisdiction.

51. Adjudicative-forum map

Household, elder, clerical, court, council, arbitration, state, and appellate bodies.

52. Complaint-and-standing profile

Who may complain, collective claims, anonymity, retaliation, and access.

53. Investigation profile

Authority, independence, evidence collection, confidentiality, and civil referral.

54. Evidence-and-testimony profile

Witness status, documents, confession, oaths, physical evidence, digital evidence, and experts.

55. Burden-and-standard-of-proof profile

Presumptions, standards, offense variation, and evidentiary fairness.

56. Hearing-and-due-process profile

Notice, response, representation, impartiality, timeliness, reasons, and accessibility.

57. Sanction matrix

Spiritual, ritual, reputational, institutional, economic, bodily, civil, and historical sanctions.

58. Restitution-and-reparation profile

Material, personal, communal, institutional, historical, and intergenerational repair.

59. Restorative-justice profile

Participation, safety, power imbalance, truth-telling, restoration, and limits.

60. Appeal-and-review profile

Appellate bodies, grounds, deadlines, stays, external review, and finality.

61. Enforcement profile

Formal power, informal pressure, selective enforcement, state cooperation, and actual effectiveness.

62. Compliance profile

Knowledge, observance, selective practice, concealment, evasion, and demographic variation.

63. Social-function matrix

Manifest, latent, positive, negative, mixed, intended, and unintended functions.

64. Distributional-impact matrix

Benefits and burdens by gender, age, caste, class, ethnicity, disability, office, wealth, and member status.

65. Cohesion-and-boundary profile

Solidarity, trust, identity, exclusion, outsider relations, and coercive conformity.

66. Social-control profile

Surveillance, discipline, gossip, shame, family pressure, digital monitoring, and exit.

67. Political-and-resistance function profile

Legitimation, opposition, mobilization, nationalism, anti-colonialism, and reform.

68. Welfare-and-resilience function profile

Mutual aid, crisis response, care networks, burial, health, and community survival.

69. Social-harm and dysfunction profile

Stigma, exclusion, discrimination, abuse, poverty, violence, hierarchy, and institutional concealment.

70. Historical-development timeline

Origins, codification, enforcement shifts, state recognition, schisms, reform, abolition, and revival.

71. Reform register

Initiators, sources, opposition, decisions, implementation, outcomes, and unresolved disputes.

72. Human-rights crosswalk

Dignity, equality, conscience, privacy, bodily integrity, due process, minority rights, and institutional autonomy.

73. State-law relationship map

Recognition, conflict, accommodation, arbitration, preemption, constitutional limits, and current jurisdiction.

74. Diaspora legal profile

Adaptation, exemptions, state-law conflict, transnational authority, and generational change.

75. Official–lived comparison

Formal law, authoritative interpretation, local custom, common behavior, enforcement, and dissent.

76. Legal case register

Representative cases showing interpretation, process, sanction, remedy, and actual effect.

77. Evidence and confidence ledger

Source basis and uncertainty for every major social and legal claim.

78. Final normative synthesis

One concise statement and one complete reconstruction of the religious legal order.

79. Final social-function synthesis

One concise statement and one complete analysis of the system’s actual social effects.

Non-Overlap Rules

The original framework explicitly separates belief from social order and assigns cohesion, taboo, purity, and social regulation to this dimension rather than to Pantheon, Cosmology, or Ritual.

Identity and Scope

Identity and Scope determines who and what belongs to the religion. Social Function and Law analyzes the rights, duties, statuses, boundaries, and consequences attached to belonging.

Historical Context

Historical Context establishes when laws, social systems, political relationships, and reforms developed. Social Function and Law analyzes their content, operation, interpretation, and effects.

Sources of Evidence

Sources of Evidence evaluates legal texts, inscriptions, court records, oral testimony, institutional policies, and ethnography. Social Function and Law synthesizes the normative and social system those sources support.

Pantheon and Supernatural Beings

Pantheon identifies divine rulers, judges, oath witnesses, patrons, adversaries, and lawgivers as beings. Social Function and Law analyzes how claims about them legitimate human authority, obligation, punishment, hierarchy, and justice.

Cosmology and Myth

Cosmology and Myth analyzes cosmic order, creation, fate, and sacred narratives. Social Function and Law analyzes how human communities derive legal and social arrangements from those models.

Ritual and Practice

Ritual and Practice explains the physical performance of oaths, marriages, coronations, purifications, punishments, reconciliations, and status rites. Social Function and Law explains their legal consequences and social authority.

Sacred Space and Material Culture

Sacred Space and Material Culture documents courts, boundaries, monuments, property, status objects, legal texts, and segregated spaces. Social Function and Law analyzes the rights, exclusions, authorities, and social relations those forms materialize.

Religious Specialists and Institutions

Religious Specialists and Institutions identifies rulers, judges, jurists, councils, elders, and disciplinary bodies as offices and organizations. Social Function and Law analyzes the substantive norms and social orders they interpret and administer.

Death and Afterlife

Social Function and Law analyzes burial rights, inheritance, corpse custody, mourning obligations, widowhood, and legal treatment of the dead. Death and Afterlife analyzes the nature and destiny of the deceased person.

Symbolism and Cultural Expression

Social Function and Law analyzes the legal and social effects of insignia, dress, flags, honorifics, purity marks, and public identity. Symbolism and Cultural Expression analyzes their aesthetic and semiotic meanings.

Contact and Transformation

Social Function and Law records the resulting reformed code, abolished disability, new status, changed marriage rule, or altered state relationship. Contact and Transformation explains the processes of colonialism, migration, polemic, syncretism, suppression, translation, and revival that produced the change.

Final Quality-Control Audit

A Social Function and Law analysis is complete only when every question below is answered yes, not applicable, jurisdictionally variable, confidential, historical only, or explicitly unknown.

Scope and terminology

  1. Is the religious unit precisely defined?
  2. Are branches stated?
  3. Are periods stated?
  4. Are regions stated?
  5. Is the contemporary cutoff date stated?
  6. Are current legal jurisdictions stated?
  7. Are historical laws identified as historical?
  8. Are current norms distinguished from obsolete norms?
  9. Are household norms included?
  10. Are customary norms included?
  11. Are informal norms included?
  12. Are monastic norms included?
  13. Are state-recognized norms included?
  14. Are dissident legal traditions included?
  15. Are minority schools included?
  16. Is “law” tested for applicability?
  17. Is “ethics” tested?
  18. Is “sin” tested?
  19. Is “crime” tested?
  20. Is “purity” tested?
  21. Is “pollution” tested?
  22. Is “taboo” tested?
  23. Is “caste” tested?
  24. Is “rights” tested?
  25. Is “duty” tested?
  26. Is “justice” tested?
  27. Is “religious freedom” tested?
  28. Are indigenous terms recorded?
  29. Are original scripts recorded?
  30. Are pronunciations recorded?
  31. Are translation limits stated?
  32. Are polemical and colonial terms marked?
  33. Are confidential cases protected?
  34. Are current civil-law claims jurisdiction-specific?
  35. Is analysis distinguished from legal advice?

Norm census and classification

  1. Is every formal law inventoried?
  2. Is every commandment inventoried?
  3. Is every prohibition inventoried?
  4. Is every permission inventoried?
  5. Is every recommendation inventoried?
  6. Is every virtue inventoried?
  7. Is every vice inventoried?
  8. Is every taboo inventoried?
  9. Is every purity rule inventoried?
  10. Is every status rule inventoried?
  11. Is every household rule inventoried?
  12. Is every customary rule inventoried?
  13. Is every institutional policy inventoried?
  14. Is every monastic rule inventoried?
  15. Is every political obligation inventoried?
  16. Is every economic obligation inventoried?
  17. Is every welfare obligation inventoried?
  18. Is every informal expectation inventoried?
  19. Is every disputed norm inventoried?
  20. Is every abolished norm identified?
  21. Is every reconstructed norm identified?
  22. Is every norm assigned a stable ID?
  23. Is every norm linked to evidence?
  24. Is each norm’s status classified?
  25. Are binding and advisory norms distinguished?
  26. Are universal and group-specific norms distinguished?
  27. Are public and private norms distinguished?
  28. Are permanent and temporary norms distinguished?
  29. Are formal and customary norms distinguished?
  30. Are official and popular norms distinguished?
  31. Are one-time rulings prevented from being generalized automatically?
  32. Are open-ended norm classes marked as open?

Normative sources and authority

  1. Is the ultimate source of obligation stated?
  2. Is divine command addressed?
  3. Is revelation addressed?
  4. Is scripture addressed?
  5. Is tradition addressed?
  6. Is custom addressed?
  7. Is precedent addressed?
  8. Is reason addressed?
  9. Is natural law addressed?
  10. Is conscience addressed?
  11. Is institutional authority addressed?
  12. Is community consensus addressed?
  13. Is charismatic authority addressed?
  14. Is state authority addressed?
  15. Are source conflicts identified?
  16. Is source hierarchy stated?
  17. Can later sources override earlier sources?
  18. Can custom override text?
  19. Can conscience oppose institution?
  20. Can state law override religious enforcement?
  21. Is the conflict-resolving authority stated?
  22. Are branch-specific hierarchies stated?
  23. Are authority claims evidenced?
  24. Is authority distinguished from coercive power?
  25. Is authority distinguished from expertise?
  26. Is authority distinguished from popularity?
  27. Are minority interpretive authorities included?

Interpretation and legal development

  1. Are interpretive methods identified?
  2. Is literal interpretation addressed?
  3. Is contextual interpretation addressed?
  4. Is historical interpretation addressed?
  5. Is purposive interpretation addressed?
  6. Is analogical reasoning addressed?
  7. Is precedent-based reasoning addressed?
  8. Is moral-principle reasoning addressed?
  9. Is mystical interpretation distinguished from legal interpretation?
  10. Are legal schools identified?
  11. Are disagreements preserved?
  12. Is interpretive authority identified?
  13. Can laypeople interpret?
  14. Is codification addressed?
  15. Is customary law’s proof addressed?
  16. Is legal promulgation addressed?
  17. Is notice addressed?
  18. Are inaccessible rules prevented from being enforced without scrutiny?
  19. Is abrogation addressed?
  20. Is legal development addressed?
  21. Is reform addressed?
  22. Is nonenforcement distinguished from repeal?
  23. Is obsolete text distinguished from active law?
  24. Are later interpretations prevented from being projected backward?
  25. Are early rules prevented from being generalized forward?
  26. Is current legal status verified by jurisdiction?

Addressees and scope

  1. Is each norm’s addressee stated?
  2. Are members distinguished from outsiders?
  3. Are clergy distinguished from laity?
  4. Are initiates distinguished from noninitiates?
  5. Are adults distinguished from children?
  6. Are rulers distinguished from subjects?
  7. Are household heads distinguished from dependents?
  8. Are gender-specific norms stated?
  9. Are caste- or class-specific norms stated?
  10. Are occupational norms stated?
  11. Are territorial norms stated?
  12. Are diaspora norms stated?
  13. Are former members addressed?
  14. Are converts addressed?
  15. Are mixed-affiliation persons addressed?
  16. Are rules applying to all humanity distinguished from covenant rules?
  17. Does law follow members across borders?
  18. Is private conduct within scope?
  19. Are thoughts and intentions within scope?
  20. Are institutions treated as legal subjects where appropriate?

Moral agency and culpability

  1. Is personhood defined?
  2. Are all humans recognized as moral persons?
  3. Are outsiders recognized?
  4. Are children recognized?
  5. Are enslaved persons historically recognized?
  6. Are disabled persons recognized?
  7. Are animals given moral status where applicable?
  8. Is free will addressed?
  9. Is fate addressed?
  10. Is divine decree addressed?
  11. Is karma addressed?
  12. Is coercion addressed?
  13. Is duress addressed?
  14. Is ignorance addressed?
  15. Is mistake addressed?
  16. Is negligence addressed?
  17. Is recklessness addressed?
  18. Is intoxication addressed?
  19. Is mental incapacity addressed?
  20. Is age capacity addressed?
  21. Is intention required?
  22. Is motive relevant?
  23. Is attempt relevant?
  24. Is omission relevant?
  25. Is unintended harm relevant?
  26. Is public scandal relevant?
  27. Is status liability distinguished from fault?
  28. Is diminished responsibility recognized?
  29. Is institutional responsibility addressed?
  30. Is collective responsibility addressed?

Virtue, vice, sin, crime, and impurity

  1. Are cardinal or central virtues identified?
  2. Are virtues ranked?
  3. Are virtue conflicts addressed?
  4. Is character formation addressed?
  5. Are central vices identified?
  6. Are dispositions distinguished from acts?
  7. Is sin defined?
  8. Is crime defined?
  9. Is error defined?
  10. Is debt defined?
  11. Is guilt defined?
  12. Is shame defined?
  13. Is pollution defined?
  14. Is dishonor defined?
  15. Are these categories kept distinct?
  16. Are major and minor offenses distinguished?
  17. Are individual and corporate sins distinguished?
  18. Are private and public offenses distinguished?
  19. Are offenses against deity distinguished from offenses against persons?
  20. Are offenses against institutions distinguished?
  21. Are strict-liability conditions identified?
  22. Are accidental impurities identified?
  23. Are inherited conditions identified?
  24. Are moral and ritual remedies distinguished?

Repentance, forgiveness, and restoration

  1. Is repentance defined?
  2. Is confession required?
  3. Is cessation required?
  4. Is regret required?
  5. Is restitution required?
  6. Is public acknowledgment required?
  7. Is amendment verified?
  8. Does repentance reduce sanction?
  9. Is forgiveness defined?
  10. Who may forgive?
  11. Is victim forgiveness voluntary?
  12. Can an institution forgive on another’s behalf?
  13. Does forgiveness erase material consequences?
  14. Is pardon distinguished from forgiveness?
  15. Is mercy distinguished from favoritism?
  16. Is reconciliation distinguished from restored access?
  17. Can repeat offenders be restored?
  18. Is community safety preserved?

Membership and boundaries

  1. Are membership rights stated?
  2. Are membership duties stated?
  3. Is admission law stated?
  4. Is conversion law stated?
  5. Is hereditary membership stated?
  6. Are dual affiliations addressed?
  7. Is exit permitted?
  8. Is apostasy defined?
  9. Are exit procedures stated?
  10. Are former members protected?
  11. Is reentry possible?
  12. Is excommunication defined?
  13. Is expulsion procedure stated?
  14. Is shunning addressed?
  15. Are family-contact rules addressed?
  16. Are burial consequences addressed?
  17. Are marriage consequences addressed?
  18. Are inheritance consequences addressed?
  19. Is appeal available?
  20. Are insiders and outsiders classified?
  21. Are rival branches classified?
  22. Are heretics classified?
  23. Are guests classified?
  24. Are strangers protected?
  25. Are refugees addressed?
  26. Are nonmembers owed basic duties?
  27. Are minority religions protected?
  28. Does cohesion depend upon exclusion?

Ethnicity, class, caste, rank, and honor

  1. Is ethnic belonging addressed?
  2. Is religion–nation overlap addressed?
  3. Are mixed-descent persons addressed?
  4. Can outsiders join fully?
  5. Is caste identified?
  6. Is class identified?
  7. Is rank identified?
  8. Are hereditary privileges identified?
  9. Are hereditary disabilities identified?
  10. Is occupational status addressed?
  11. Is social mobility possible?
  12. Is intermarriage restricted?
  13. Is untouchability or equivalent exclusion addressed?
  14. Are abolition movements addressed?
  15. Is lived discrimination measured?
  16. Is honor defined?
  17. Is shame defined?
  18. Is family honor addressed?
  19. Is gendered honor addressed?
  20. Is reputation a sanction?
  21. Can honor be restored?
  22. Are false accusations remedied?

Family and kinship

  1. Is kinship defined?
  2. Is biological kinship distinguished from ritual kinship?
  3. Is clan affiliation addressed?
  4. Is household membership addressed?
  5. Is marriage validity defined?
  6. Is consent required?
  7. Are family permissions required?
  8. Are age requirements stated?
  9. Are prohibited degrees stated?
  10. Is monogamy addressed?
  11. Is polygyny addressed?
  12. Is polyandry addressed?
  13. Are temporary unions addressed?
  14. Are interreligious marriages addressed?
  15. Are intercaste marriages addressed?
  16. Are bridewealth and dowry addressed?
  17. Are spouse duties stated?
  18. Are property rights stated?
  19. Is sexual consent addressed?
  20. Is marital coercion addressed?
  21. Is fidelity addressed?
  22. Is residence addressed?
  23. Is divorce permitted?
  24. Are divorce grounds stated?
  25. Is separation addressed?
  26. Is annulment distinguished?
  27. Is remarriage addressed?
  28. Are economic protections stated?
  29. Is child custody addressed?
  30. Is adoption addressed?
  31. Is guardianship addressed?
  32. Is inheritance addressed?
  33. Are daughters and sons compared?
  34. Are adopted children included?
  35. Are widows protected?
  36. Are orphans protected?
  37. Are elders supported?
  38. Is household authority limited?

Gender, sexuality, and reproduction

  1. Are emic gender categories stated?
  2. Are male and female roles stated?
  3. Are third-gender roles stated where applicable?
  4. Are nonbinary identities addressed where applicable?
  5. Are office restrictions stated?
  6. Are property restrictions stated?
  7. Are educational restrictions stated?
  8. Are household roles stated?
  9. Are informal women’s powers documented?
  10. Is sexual ethics stated?
  11. Is consent central?
  12. Are prohibited relationships stated?
  13. Are coercive relationships condemned?
  14. Are same-sex relationships addressed historically and currently?
  15. Are celibate statuses addressed?
  16. Is procreation a duty?
  17. Is contraception addressed?
  18. Is infertility addressed?
  19. Is assisted reproduction addressed?
  20. Is abortion addressed?
  21. Is miscarriage addressed?
  22. Is fetal or embryonic status addressed?
  23. Is adoption treated as full parenthood?
  24. Are reproductive burdens distributed unequally?
  25. Are reform movements included?
  26. Are affected persons represented?

Children and safeguarding

  1. Is childhood defined?
  2. Is age of responsibility stated?
  3. Is education a duty?
  4. Is health care a duty?
  5. Is nutrition a duty?
  6. Is child marriage addressed?
  7. Is corporal punishment addressed?
  8. Is consent to initiation addressed?
  9. Is consent to conversion addressed?
  10. Is custody addressed?
  11. Is parental authority limited?
  12. Can children appeal to outside authorities?
  13. Are disabled children protected?
  14. Are orphan institutions accountable?
  15. Are child labor and servitude addressed?
  16. Is sexual safeguarding explicit?
  17. Are criminal acts reported to civil authorities?
  18. Are historical harms acknowledged?

Purity, taboo, food, and body

  1. Is purity defined?
  2. Is impurity defined?
  3. Are causes of impurity listed?
  4. Is transmission addressed?
  5. Is duration addressed?
  6. Is access restriction stated?
  7. Is moral fault distinguished?
  8. Is hereditary pollution addressed?
  9. Are occupations affected?
  10. Are death-related impurities addressed?
  11. Are childbirth-related impurities addressed?
  12. Are menstruation-related rules addressed?
  13. Are sexual-fluid rules addressed?
  14. Are modern critiques included?
  15. Are taboos inventoried?
  16. Are taboo objects stated?
  17. Are taboo persons stated?
  18. Are taboo words stated?
  19. Are taboo times stated?
  20. Are food rules stated?
  21. Are prohibited species stated?
  22. Are preparation rules stated?
  23. Are mixing rules stated?
  24. Are fasting rules cross-referenced?
  25. Are health exceptions stated?
  26. Are poverty exceptions stated?
  27. Is diaspora adaptation addressed?
  28. Are intoxicants addressed?
  29. Are dress rules stated?
  30. Are grooming rules stated?
  31. Are modesty rules reciprocal?
  32. Are bodily modifications addressed?
  33. Is consent addressed?
  34. Are legal and medical protections stated?

Health, disability, death, and sacred time

  1. Is health care a communal obligation?
  2. Is illness moralized?
  3. Are healers regulated?
  4. Is clinical care protected?
  5. Are public-health duties addressed?
  6. Is treatment refusal addressed?
  7. Are vaccination issues addressed where relevant?
  8. Are surgery and blood issues addressed?
  9. Are reproductive medical issues addressed?
  10. Is end-of-life care addressed?
  11. Is disability status addressed?
  12. Are accommodations required?
  13. Are cure expectations critiqued?
  14. Can disabled persons hold office?
  15. Are burial rights stated?
  16. Is corpse custody stated?
  17. Are autopsy and organ donation addressed?
  18. Are cemeteries regulated?
  19. Are nonmembers buried?
  20. Is sacred rest stated?
  21. Are work prohibitions stated?
  22. Are emergency exceptions stated?
  23. Are workers entitled to observance?
  24. Does state law accommodate observance?

Property, economy, and labor

  1. Is property ownership stated?
  2. Is communal property stated?
  3. Is institutional property stated?
  4. Are women’s property rights stated?
  5. Are sacred assets alienable?
  6. Is land ownership stated?
  7. Are ancestral lands addressed?
  8. Are Indigenous claims addressed?
  9. Is conquest-based title addressed?
  10. Is wealth morally classified?
  11. Is poverty morally classified?
  12. Are accumulation limits stated?
  13. Is trade regulated?
  14. Are fair weights required?
  15. Is fraud prohibited?
  16. Are contracts regulated?
  17. Is consent to contract addressed?
  18. Are witnesses required?
  19. Are remedies for breach stated?
  20. Is debt regulated?
  21. Is interest regulated?
  22. Is debt relief addressed?
  23. Is insolvency addressed?
  24. Are debtors protected?
  25. Is labor dignity addressed?
  26. Are wages addressed?
  27. Is worker safety addressed?
  28. Is rest addressed?
  29. Is freedom to leave employment addressed?
  30. Is unpaid religious labor addressed?
  31. Is slavery historically addressed?
  32. Is debt bondage addressed?
  33. Is serfdom addressed?
  34. Is abolition addressed?
  35. Are surviving effects addressed?
  36. Are religious taxes stated?
  37. Are tithes stated?
  38. Are exemptions stated?
  39. Are funds audited?
  40. Is corruption addressed?
  41. Is simony addressed?
  42. Is bribery addressed?
  43. Is nepotism addressed?

Charity, welfare, and social care

  1. Is charity required?
  2. Is amount stated?
  3. Are recipients defined?
  4. Are insiders and outsiders compared?
  5. Is anonymity addressed?
  6. Is merit addressed?
  7. Are institutions responsible?
  8. Are individual duties stated?
  9. Is aid conditional?
  10. Are widows protected?
  11. Are orphans protected?
  12. Are migrants protected?
  13. Are disabled persons protected?
  14. Are unemployed persons protected?
  15. Are burial costs covered?
  16. Is health care provided?
  17. Is education provided?
  18. Is disaster relief provided?
  19. Are recipients represented?
  20. Are outcomes measured?
  21. Is stigma addressed?
  22. Is justice distinguished from charity?

Environment and animals

  1. Is animal moral status stated?
  2. Is animal killing regulated?
  3. Is animal suffering addressed?
  4. Are working animals protected?
  5. Are sacred species protected?
  6. Is hunting regulated?
  7. Is land stewardship stated?
  8. Is water stewardship stated?
  9. Is pollution prohibited?
  10. Are forests protected?
  11. Are future generations considered?
  12. Is climate change addressed?
  13. Are religious institutions accountable for environmental harm?
  14. Are Indigenous ecological laws included?
  15. Are ritual-environment conflicts addressed?

Political legitimacy and public order

  1. Is the source of political legitimacy stated?
  2. Is divine kingship addressed?
  3. Is anointing addressed?
  4. Is election addressed?
  5. Is consent addressed?
  6. Is lineage addressed?
  7. Is constitutional legitimacy addressed?
  8. Is the ruler subject to law?
  9. Can legitimacy be lost?
  10. Who may depose?
  11. Is preferred government form stated?
  12. Are alternate forms permitted?
  13. Is citizenship defined?
  14. Are religious tests imposed?
  15. Are minorities equal citizens?
  16. Are public-office restrictions stated?
  17. Are clergy eligible?
  18. Are political oaths stated?
  19. Is obedience required?
  20. Are limits to obedience stated?
  21. Is civil disobedience addressed?
  22. Is resistance addressed?
  23. Is revolution addressed?
  24. Is nonviolence addressed?
  25. Is nationalism addressed?
  26. Is civil religion addressed?
  27. Is religious freedom addressed?
  28. Is freedom of exit addressed?
  29. Is institutional autonomy addressed?
  30. Are individual rights protected?
  31. Is state establishment addressed?
  32. Is separation addressed?
  33. Is state funding addressed?
  34. Is state appointment addressed?
  35. Can institutions criticize government?

War, peace, and public security

  1. Is legitimate authority for war stated?
  2. Is just cause stated?
  3. Is defensive war distinguished?
  4. Is aggression condemned?
  5. Is intention addressed?
  6. Is last resort addressed?
  7. Is proportionality addressed?
  8. Are noncombatants protected?
  9. Are forbidden weapons or methods addressed?
  10. Is holy-war language interpreted carefully?
  11. Is conscientious objection addressed?
  12. Is pacifism addressed?
  13. Are treaties sacred?
  14. Are oaths binding?
  15. Is reconciliation addressed?
  16. Are reparations addressed?
  17. Is public policing addressed?
  18. Are religious police addressed?
  19. Are use-of-force limits stated?
  20. Are minorities protected?
  21. Is surveillance addressed?
  22. Is accountability present?
  23. Are historical and current practices distinguished?

Speech, knowledge, and information

  1. Is truthfulness required?
  2. Is lying classified?
  3. Are exceptions stated?
  4. Is gossip addressed?
  5. Is slander addressed?
  6. Is rumor addressed?
  7. Is propaganda addressed?
  8. Is blasphemy defined?
  9. Is intent required?
  10. Are sanctions current or historical?
  11. Is heresy defined?
  12. Is private doubt distinguished from public teaching?
  13. Is apostasy defined?
  14. Is freedom of conscience addressed?
  15. Are oaths regulated?
  16. Are witnesses regulated?
  17. Are coerced oaths invalid?
  18. Is confidentiality defined?
  19. Are secrecy limits stated?
  20. Are whistleblowers protected?
  21. Is education a right or duty?
  22. Are girls and women included?
  23. Are lower-status groups included?
  24. Are disabled learners included?
  25. Are sacred languages addressed?
  26. Are translations authoritative?
  27. Is censorship addressed?
  28. Is media authority addressed?
  29. Is digital speech addressed?
  30. Is online harassment addressed?
  31. Is data privacy addressed?
  32. Is surveillance addressed?
  33. Is artificial intelligence addressed where relevant?
  34. Are current technological rules dated?

Adjudication and procedure

  1. Are adjudicative forums identified?
  2. Is forum jurisdiction stated?
  3. Is forum choice voluntary?
  4. Is standing stated?
  5. Can victims complain?
  6. Can families complain?
  7. Can institutions complain?
  8. Are anonymous complaints allowed?
  9. Are collective claims allowed?
  10. Is investigation procedure stated?
  11. Is investigator independence stated?
  12. Are civil authorities involved where required?
  13. Is admissible evidence stated?
  14. Is testimony regulated?
  15. Are witness disabilities or status restrictions identified?
  16. Are documents admitted?
  17. Is physical evidence admitted?
  18. Is digital evidence admitted?
  19. Are coerced confessions excluded?
  20. Is hearsay addressed?
  21. Is expert evidence addressed?
  22. Is burden of proof stated?
  23. Is standard of proof stated?
  24. Is presumption of innocence addressed?
  25. Is notice given?
  26. Are charges specified?
  27. Can the respondent answer?
  28. Is representation permitted?
  29. Is translation provided?
  30. Are judges impartial?
  31. Are hearings timely?
  32. Are reasons given?
  33. Are decisions recorded?
  34. Is appeal available?
  35. Are appeal grounds stated?
  36. Is external civil review available?
  37. Is enforcement authority stated?
  38. Is selective enforcement measured?

Sanctions and remedies

  1. Are warnings addressed?
  2. Is instruction addressed?
  3. Is confession addressed?
  4. Is apology addressed?
  5. Is restitution addressed?
  6. Is compensation addressed?
  7. Is penance addressed?
  8. Is ritual exclusion addressed?
  9. Is office suspension addressed?
  10. Is office removal addressed?
  11. Are fines addressed?
  12. Is shunning addressed?
  13. Is expulsion addressed?
  14. Are civil disabilities addressed?
  15. Are historical corporal punishments identified?
  16. Are historical capital punishments identified?
  17. Are such historical penalties prevented from being presented as current?
  18. Is proportionality assessed?
  19. Is deterrence assessed?
  20. Is retribution assessed?
  21. Is protection assessed?
  22. Is purification assessed?
  23. Is restoration assessed?
  24. Is mercy addressed?
  25. Is pardon addressed?
  26. Is commutation addressed?
  27. Is favoritism controlled?
  28. Are victims’ interests represented?
  29. Are community harms repaired?
  30. Are institutional harms repaired?
  31. Are historical reparations addressed?
  32. Is reconciliation voluntary?
  33. Is restored trust distinguished from forgiveness?

Lived law and compliance

  1. Do ordinary adherents know the rules?
  2. Are knowledge differences measured?
  3. Is compliance measured?
  4. Is selective observance measured?
  5. Is private noncompliance considered?
  6. Is public conformity considered?
  7. Is evasion considered?
  8. Are loopholes considered?
  9. Is forum shopping considered?
  10. Are elites’ exceptions considered?
  11. Is local custom compared?
  12. Is official–popular divergence recorded?
  13. Is enforcement capacity assessed?
  14. Are informal sanctions assessed?
  15. Is gossip assessed?
  16. Is marriage-market pressure assessed?
  17. Is employment pressure assessed?
  18. Is donor pressure assessed?
  19. Is digital shaming assessed?
  20. Is stigma measured?
  21. Are former members protected?
  22. Are cases used to test the written law?
  23. Are regional variations mapped?
  24. Are branch variations mapped?
  25. Are demographic variations mapped?

Social functions

  1. Is identity formation analyzed?
  2. Is solidarity analyzed?
  3. Is trust analyzed?
  4. Is socialization analyzed?
  5. Is memory analyzed?
  6. Is redistribution analyzed?
  7. Is welfare analyzed?
  8. Is dispute resolution analyzed?
  9. Is political legitimacy analyzed?
  10. Is resistance analyzed?
  11. Is social control analyzed?
  12. Is surveillance analyzed?
  13. Is boundary maintenance analyzed?
  14. Is exclusion analyzed?
  15. Is hierarchy analyzed?
  16. Is inequality analyzed?
  17. Are gendered effects analyzed?
  18. Are class effects analyzed?
  19. Are caste effects analyzed?
  20. Are ethnic effects analyzed?
  21. Are disability effects analyzed?
  22. Are child effects analyzed?
  23. Is demographic reproduction analyzed?
  24. Is health analyzed?
  25. Is crisis resilience analyzed?
  26. Is diaspora cohesion analyzed?
  27. Is social capital analyzed?
  28. Is education analyzed?
  29. Is political mobilization analyzed?
  30. Is violence analyzed?
  31. Is peacebuilding analyzed?
  32. Are manifest functions identified?
  33. Are latent functions identified?
  34. Are intended and unintended effects distinguished?
  35. Are benefits identified?
  36. Are burdens identified?
  37. Are affected populations identified?
  38. Are causal mechanisms stated?
  39. Is evidence adequate?
  40. Are alternative explanations considered?
  41. Is “cohesion” prevented from hiding coercion?
  42. Is “charity” prevented from hiding injustice?
  43. Is “order” prevented from automatically implying justice?
  44. Are harmful functions stated plainly?

Reform and contemporary change

  1. Are mechanisms of legal change identified?
  2. Is reinterpretation addressed?
  3. Is precedent change addressed?
  4. Is custom change addressed?
  5. Is codification addressed?
  6. Is abrogation addressed?
  7. Is nonenforcement addressed?
  8. Are reform movements identified?
  9. Are reformers identified?
  10. Are opponents identified?
  11. Are affected populations represented?
  12. Are abolition movements identified?
  13. Is slavery repudiation addressed?
  14. Is caste reform addressed?
  15. Is gender reform addressed?
  16. Is disability reform addressed?
  17. Is sexuality and family reform addressed?
  18. Is labor reform addressed?
  19. Is economic-justice reform addressed?
  20. Is environmental reform addressed?
  21. Is decolonization addressed?
  22. Are colonial codifications identified?
  23. Are Indigenous legal systems addressed?
  24. Is human-rights discourse addressed?
  25. Is religious-freedom discourse addressed?
  26. Is secularization addressed?
  27. Is privatization addressed?
  28. Is migration addressed?
  29. Is diaspora adaptation addressed?
  30. Is digital change addressed?
  31. Are current debates dated?
  32. Are ongoing changes marked as unresolved?
  33. Are formal reforms distinguished from lived change?
  34. Are reforms evaluated by outcome rather than announcement?

Evidence and final synthesis

  1. Is every norm linked to evidence?
  2. Is every social-function claim linked to evidence?
  3. Are legal texts distinguished from actual enforcement?
  4. Are official sources distinguished from popular practice?
  5. Are royal or institutional claims critically assessed?
  6. Are court records examined?
  7. Are oral traditions included?
  8. Is ethnography included?
  9. Are demographic and economic data included?
  10. Are marginalized voices included?
  11. Are historical sources dated?
  12. Are current legal sources current?
  13. Are translations verified?
  14. Are legal terms translated precisely?
  15. Are sources independent?
  16. Is representativeness assessed?
  17. Are insider and outsider interpretations separated?
  18. Are confidentiality and privacy protected?
  19. Is confidence stated for every major claim?
  20. Are unknowns left unknown?
  21. Does the final synthesis identify normative sources?
  22. Does it identify the norm hierarchy?
  23. Does it identify persons and statuses?
  24. Does it identify rights and duties?
  25. Does it identify family and kinship?
  26. Does it identify purity and taboo?
  27. Does it identify property and economy?
  28. Does it identify political legitimacy?
  29. Does it identify speech and knowledge?
  30. Does it identify judicial procedure?
  31. Does it identify sanctions and remedies?
  32. Does it identify legal pluralism?
  33. Does it identify official–lived divergence?
  34. Does it identify social cohesion?
  35. Does it identify exclusion?
  36. Does it identify inequality?
  37. Does it identify welfare and resilience?
  38. Does it identify resistance and reform?
  39. Does it identify state-law relationships?
  40. Does it identify contemporary debates?
  41. Does it avoid becoming a summary of doctrine?
  42. Does it avoid becoming a ritual manual?
  43. Does it avoid becoming merely an institutional organization chart?
  44. Does it avoid treating cosmic order as human law?
  45. Does it avoid treating historical penalties as present practice?
  46. Does it avoid treating the dominant branch as the whole religion?
  47. Does it avoid treating formal equality as actual equality?
  48. Does it avoid equating compliance with consent?
  49. Does it identify who benefits from each major rule?
  50. Does it identify who bears each major burden?
  51. Can another researcher reconstruct the normative system?
  52. Can a member determine which authority governs a dispute?
  53. Can an affected person identify available remedies and appeals?
  54. Can a legal researcher determine the relationship between religious and state law?
  55. Does the completed section show both how religion sustains collective life and how its social order may be contested, unjust, reformable, or liberating?

Only after this audit is satisfied should the analysis proceed to Death and Afterlife—the constitution of the person, the event of dying, the treatment and transition of the dead, postmortem judgment and destination, continuing relations with ancestors and spirits, resurrection or rebirth, and the ultimate destiny of individual lives.