Could go either way:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLYefZkOMB0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qIQxV2Bpmg

Wonder how Meadow will take to Little Toy...

(Imperial Anthem plays, then skunk-head test pattern appears on screen)

Excellent work! I'll be tuning in for further adventures.

Another quite gripping tale.

However, one general question that has been bugging me. How common was it during the days before constitutional monarchies were there rule of law, via tomes of law? My impression was (in this case) Prince Ivan could say "the moon is purple" and that would be considered the law of the land. Or was this case that sovereigns wiser than ivan before him decided that laws in books were necessary as a matter of fairness, and Prince Ivan(s) decided to more or less ignore them?

Your question would depend somewhat on what realm you were using as your model. Of some importance, since the few realms that used precedent-based common law mixed with acts of legislatures (England, primarily), had a different experience than nations with weak legislatures and Continental/Roman law.

I used England as precedent for Faerie in general, which would include both the Empire and Licksburg.

Now, when I was in law school 20+ years ago, and I took the required courses in property and trusts and estates, each of those courses started out in medieval England. Both of my professors noted that control over land, property and how you left it to heirs was a central focus of the landed aristocracy; I remembered that when I put those words into Winterbough's muzzle. Some of the laws go all the way back to the 13th century; Wiki "Quo Warranto" and "Quia Emptores." More recently, in the reign of Henry VIIIth, you had the Statute of Uses and the Statute of Wills. All of these dealt with property and heritable rights. Not that enacting these laws didn't cause trouble. The "Pilgrimage of Grace" against Henry VIIIth was in part sparked by the Statute of Uses (vide Wiki).

Note that some of these laws lasted even into the early part of the 20th century, before certain reforms kicked in. Even the Stuart kings of England (the early ones), believers in Divine Right, didn't mess with the laws.

Prince Ivan, ironically enough, was trying to use those very laws to grab wealth, and they proved his undoing.