Customary law does not mean that everything is up to the local authorities to decide. Some customs are assumed to be universal, while others may come from relig

Customary law does not mean that everything is up to the local authorities to decide. Some customs are assumed to be universal, while others may come from religious or royal authorities far away. People have tried building great empires for millennia, and those empires have always relied on long-distance trade. In order for trade to flourish, long-distance travel has to be safe and predictable, at least relatively speaking. Traders and other travelers typically had to worry more about outlaws than about being outlaws.