Folktales and Law

The legal system, its representatives, and principles rarely appear in traditional folktales despite the importance it has in daily life (don't jaywalk kids!). However, a few exceptions stand out.

“Tainted Witness” in Burmese Law Tales by Muang Htin Aung. 

“The Fly” in Best-Loved Folktales of the World by Joanna Cole. 

“The Peasant and the Workman” in Folk Tales of All Nations by F.H. Lee. 

“Nature’s Way” in 100 Armenian Tales and Their Folkloristic Relevance by Susie Hoogasian-Villa. 

“The Five Queer Brothers” in Chinese Nights' Entertainment by Adele Marion Fielde.   

Orestes at Athens by Aeschylus, translated by Oliver Taplin 

Judgement of Solomon in the Bible (1 Kings 3:16–28) 

There's also a criminological study a German fairy tale corpus:

The Criminological Significance of the Grimms’ Fairy Tales (1987) by Gerhard O. W. Mueller.

Folktales Throughout History

Where did folktales originate? That question's unanswerable because the stories likely predate literacy and printing. And contemporary folklorists prioritize function over origin. Nonetheless, scholars have unearthed old written versions of popular tales, possibly the first recorded variants of certain stories or story cycles. Each tale corresponds well to traditional tale types: 

1290s - 1210s B.C.E., The Doomed Prince (ATU 934 Tales of the Predestined Death)

1200 - 1194 B.C.E., The Story of Two Brothers (ATU 318 The Faithless Wife)

300 - 200 B.C.E., Book of Tobit: II 3 -7 (ATU 505 The Grateful Dead)

1 - 200 C.E., Perseus and Andromeda (ATU 300 The Dragon-Slayer)

120s - 170s C.E., Cupid and Psyche (ATU 425B Son of the Witch)

850 - 860 C.E., Yeh-hsien (ATU 510A Cinderella)

1022 - 1024 C.E., About a Girl Saved from Wolf Cubs (ATU 333 Little Red Riding Hood)

1225 C.E., Ejemplo de Dos Compañeros (ATU 613 The Two Travelers)

1330 - 1340 C.E., Troylus and Zellandine (ATU 410 Sleeping Beauty)

1382 C.E., Culhwch and Olwen (ATU 513 The Extraordinary Companions)

1462 C.E., The Wright's Chaste Wife (ATU 882 The Wager on the Wife’s Chastity)

1605 C.E., Conomerus and Trifina (ATU 312 The Maiden-Killer)

This barely scratches the surface of what's out there but it's a start for reading and research. 

Variants of "The Clever Farmgirl" (ATU 875)

 

Does solving a man's riddles make him love you? Probably not. The female protagonists of these tales, however, manage to turn it into an effective mating strategy. The downside is that the man won't stay in love. That's the part where kidnapping and (possible) Stockholm syndrome come in.

The Peasant's Wise Daughter

Clever Manka

A Female Solomon

The Poor Girl That Became a Queen

The Clever Girl

Variants of "Sleeping Beauty" (ATU 410)

 

"Sleeping Beauty"(?) by Rene Cloke

We all know this one: an innocent woman put into a coma, then revived by further violation of her personhood. It's dark. It's tragic. It's old. The earliest stories appear in medieval times: Pandragus et Libanor, reportedly composed in February 1294 by Baudouin Butor. Every other variant seems to postdates it, but the trope of an enchanted sleeper goes back to Greek mythology with Endymion.

Troylus and Zellandine

Frayre de Joy and Sor de Plaser

Sun, Moon Talia

The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood

Source: Sleeping Beauties: Sleeping Beauty and Snow White Tales From Around the World by Heidi Anne Heiner.