I've always been interested in political leaders who gain their legitimacy through justice instead of war, especially in Semitic cultures. There are tantalizing clues, but focused resources on the topic have been surprisingly hard to find.
There are a some hints in fiction tho.
Westerns always made local judges out to be really powerful, even more powerful than federal marshals, perhaps because the lawlessness of the American was always critical to the plotlines of those stories.
Judges in the American west "rode circuit" (think "circuit court"), going from town to town. Many towns were too small to justify a permanent presence but too large to just ignore.
Some modern protestant ministers sometimes do something similar, giving 3+ churches a day!
The (fantastic!) Devil's West series by @LAGilman riffs off of this -- the protagonist takes a turn at riding circuit in her capacity as the Devil's Left Hand (the Devil rules the Territory) and it was a really delightful.
There's something amazing about a fictional character who is respected because she can fairly settle disputes, not because she can kill dangerous beasties or cleverly win wars.
The Chronicles of Valdemar did a nice job with this, too.
But it's not a totally unique phenomenon!
Books like Jacequiline Carey's Kushiel's Legacy series look at the alternate method of settling disputes for disparate groups that need an outside arbiter; saving up disputes for a big community gathering, a la the Germanic Althing.
But what I really want to see are ore examples like Andamana of the Canary Islands, who gained enormous respect for her legal insight, and when the ruling class started threatening her, only then hooked up with a local war leader to overthrow them.
eleanorkonik.com/female-judges-deborah-andamana/
I want to learn more about the legacy of the Punic shofetim (sufetes / Judges in the Biblical sense) that isn't just "oh they were Roman magistrates, moving on now." I want to understand why they apparently became more popular in the Punic world AFTER the fall of Carthage.
Carthage absolutely fascinates me, but I'm endlessly frustrated by my ability to learn more about it :(
It's not like "person who makes legal decisions" is unique to Semitic culture, tho. I'm pretty sure it was pretty common for groups who eventually became cattle herders to have a hereditary leader whose job was half judicial and half ceremonial.
Hanging out with #obsidianmd & @the_ubergroup has really showed me that having someone whose is respected enough to be able to settle disagreements is CRITICAL for community building.
Whatever else polities & societies are, they're also communities in really important ways.