I think Jenova was originally a goddess of another planet who used to be named Juno until she was corrupted into the form she is now.Why Juno because Juno is the Roman name of the Greek goddess Hera,who was the goddess of marriage and was the patron of married women and mothers.
Juno was also a total bitch. Don't believe me, read the Aeneid. I can totally see this.
My headcanon states that in a world where four year old children are left alone in charge of bars, fifteen year olds are considered for recruitment into SOLDIER, ten year olds become Turks, and Reeve Tuesti, one of the good guys, is taking kids as young as Denzel into the army, there is no minimum drinking age, no minimum age for joining the army, no minimum driving age, no age of consent - and no democracy, either.
No wonder so many characters have so many issues especially in a messed up society like that.I have a feeling that Shinra abolished all those minimum age laws when they got into power.It would explain how they can get away with minor endangerment.
I feel like this is a world with no social benefits programs and no regulation. As a result, there aren’t restrictions on child labor and I doubt there are any child protection agencies or government organizations that keep track of children. It’s a world where you could pick up a random orphan at a train station and no one would question the “adoption”. There probably aren’t birth certificates, mandatory schooling or required vaccinations, and who knows what records there are for average people.
As far as laws exist they exist to protect people and property (stealing, killing etc are probably illegal), but there aren’t “regulations” so nothing prohibits harmful activities like child labor. I’d bet the Shinra Orphanages are little more than workhouses and complete mess in terms of records because no one keeps track of children. There are probably plenty of children who grow up on the streets or are just abandoned by parents who can’t afford to feed them.
Now the question is whether or not Shinra abolished laws and programs designed to protect children or whether they’d had a chance to be established in the first place. In our own history the rights of the child are a fairly modern/progressive concept. I know in child labor laws in America were instituted in the 20th Century, and that in Ancient Rome children were treated as the property of the father, including the right to kill a child.
My head canon is Shinra came to power in the midst or shortly after a “capitalist” “anti-regulation/freedom” revolution that did away with social programs and regulations that cost money, in favor of letting unfettered competition among companies grow the economy in the belief that everyone would benefit from profits at the top. That regulation would impede progress, and that survival of the fittest would result in an over all fit society.
However, I do think there are some age restrictions when it comes to inheritance. Since Rufus Shinra is 18 when he’s appointed to the board, I think you have to be 18 to inherit shares in a company and hold a board position at Shinra. (This is younger than 21, the English Common law age of inheritance).
There is probably a body of inheritance law, trust and estates. I’m not sure what the laws governing marriage would be but as marriage can impact inheritance there would probably be something…
There probably isn’t any tax law because rather than taxes Shinra provides services in exchange for the fees it gets in its rate. No government “stealing wages”, you pay for what you get, which includes the cost of the army, etc. So when Shinra needs money for expenditures rates and surcharges go up.
Since there are no taxes to pay for local governments, cities must apply to Shinra for grants to pay for government and that impacts local rates. Cities that existed before Shinra came to power/hadn’t yet benefited from Shinra (no electricity yet) probably had their own individual governments and set up.
Cosmo Canyon is an independent commune that is self sufficient and socialist.
