The Rules of the Shire

The Rules of the Shire are the ancient, largely unwritten body of custom and law that governed hobbit society for centuries. Unlike the codified statutes of Gondor or the Riddermark, the Shire's legal framework was a matter of tradition and common consent. The hobbits attributed all their essential laws to the long-vanished king at Fornost, and they kept them of their own free will, not out of fear, but because they were considered "The Rules"—both ancient and just. This system was so deeply ingrained that it required no formal enforcement; families managed their own affairs, and the only real officials were the Mayor of Michel Delving and the Shirriffs, whose duties were more concerned with straying beasts than with policing people.

The Ancient Order and Its Guardians

The foundation of the Shire's peace was a deep-seated respect for property and personal liberty. Hobbits were, as a rule, generous and not greedy, contented and moderate, so that estates, farms, and small trades tended to remain unchanged for generations. The Thain was the master of the Shire-moot and captain of the Hobbitry-in-arms, but as muster and moot were only held in times of emergency, the Thainship had ceased to be more than a nominal dignity. The Shirriffs, the nearest equivalent to a police force, wore no uniforms, only a feather in their caps, and there were only twelve of them in all the Shire for "Inside Work." A larger body, the Bounders, was employed to "beat the bounds" and ensure that Outsiders did not make themselves a nuisance. This system of unwritten law, based on mutual trust and a shared sense of decency, had maintained peace and plenty for a thousand years.

The Perversion of the Rules

This ancient order was shattered by the machinations of Saruman and his agent, Lotho Sackville-Baggins. After the War of the Ring began, Lotho, styling himself "the Chief," imposed a new, tyrannical set of written rules. These were enforced not by the old Shirriffs but by a large, brutal force of Men—ruffians from the wilds. The new rules were a direct inversion of the old freedoms. Inns were closed, for the Chief did not hold with beer. Pipe-weed was confiscated for the use of the Chief's men only. Free movement was curtailed; hobbits were required to explain their business at Shirriff-houses. The old, comfortable, and permissive order was replaced by a regime of fear, surveillance, and scarcity. The very landscape was scarred by new, ugly buildings with narrow windows, and the old, round, welcoming doors were replaced by mean, straight-sided ones.

The Restoration

The return of Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin sparked the Scouring of the Shire. The first act of the rebellion was the tearing down of the new rules. Pippin tore down the lists of Rules from the walls of the guard-house at the Brandywine Bridge. The Battle of Bywater broke the power of the ruffians, and with their defeat, the entire apparatus of the Chief's rule collapsed. The new Shirriff-houses and all that had been built by "Sharkey's Men" were dismantled, brick by brick. The old, unwritten order was restored, not by a new set of laws, but by the simple act of removing the oppressive innovations. The hobbits returned to their traditional ways, governing themselves through family and community, with the Mayor and the Thain once again serving as figureheads of a society that trusted in the ancient and just Rules.