Civic Administration is the appointment and exercise of judges, officers, and governors among the Nephites. The people “did appoint judges to rule over them, or to judge them according to the law” throughout the land, and Alma was appointed “to be the first chief judge” (Mosiah 29:41–44).
When a debtor would not pay, “the judge executed authority, and sent forth officers that the man should be brought before him,” and he judged according to the law and the evidences brought against him (Alma 11:2). Nephihah’s son was appointed chief judge and governor, and there were “many merchants in the land, and also many lawyers, and many officers” (Alma 50:39; 3 Nephi 6:11).