In Ur, a person was responsible for his or her actions:
“13. If a man is accused of sorcery he must undergo ordeal by water; if he is proven innocent, his accuser must pay 3 shekels. 14. If a man accused the wife of a man of adultery, and the river ordeal proved her innocent, then the man who had accused her must pay one-third of a mina of silver.”
There are checks and balances appropriate to the organization: the river ordeal checks, and from that, the resulting punishment or innocence balances order amongst the people.
The constitution includes back-up plans. Its writer has thought through some realities: “24. …If he does not have a slave, he is to pay 10 shekels of silver. If he does not have silver, he is to give another thing that belongs to him.”