so, Feanor's exile to Formenos. if we look at it through the lens of some forms of old germanic laws, we see some interesting things. the ban, the expulsion from community, was a last resort: first, there was weregild (whereby you'd pay a sum to the offended party, proportionate to the offense/crime). if the offending party refused to pay the weregild, then the tribunal might resort to the ban. at times, when the weregild was particularly high, someone could be exiled until they could pay back the sum in full.
there's no mention of weregild in the assembly situation where the Valar listen to the Noldor and Feanor and trace everything back to Melkor, possibly because tolkien doesn't at all introduce the concept of wealth, money, or other forms of payment among Amanyar elves until they reach Beleriand. the only rules Mandos sets down are that a) Feanor needs to reflect on himself and who and what he is (really interesting wording right there) and b) the offended party (others) will release him. Feanor says absolutely nothing to this.
I find it deeply funny however that Mandos jumps straight to a ban. we can probably assume (also in line with germanic laws) that elven kings in Valinor would have some kind of judiciary authority to resolve dumb disputes etc (much as in Beleriand, which we actually see happen on page with Thingol and Turin after Saeros' death), and we can therefore probably assume that some form of, if not weregild, at least compensation in spirit, aimed at maintaining peace, existed. a gift, a verbal apology. Finwe holding himself "unkinged" over Feanor's ban seems to imply some form of protest regarding a passing over of his authority, which in turn implies that deciding for a ban would have been of his competence (nvm whether it would have happened or not)(it wouldn't have).
anyway the reason why it's funny is that, from this pov, Mandos pretty much was like he's never gonna pay that shit, let's cut to the chase please
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