Questions about how Jewish Law functions/functioned

Hi all,

Thanks for sharing your insight on how halakha functions on a day-to-day basis, both historically and in the modern practice of it.

I am generally curious how it functions with accountability. In this iteration of US government, we have police and the judicial system to govern improper use of laws, backed by a prison system for those who break it. It’s more complex than that but I think this gives the sense for what I am thinking about as far as what a halakhic system looks like.

• When one breaks (or broke) a Jewish law, what happens to them? —-> And what is the difference between positive and negative commandments when it comes to this?
• To what extent are the laws on a trust-system basis?
• Do we have historical examples of Jewish societies living under the governance solely of Jewish law, and not of the laws of another state? How did those function?

As some side things I’m curious about: – How are these laws similar and different from the kind of laws we see in a state such as the US? – What are some main lessons we can learn from Jewish law that can/should be applied to other legal systems? —-> And have Jews made significant contributions to legal systems around the world, specifically through applying these lessons?