In Alma 11:3 we are informed that "the judge received for his wages according to his time--a senine of gold for a day . . . and this is according to the law which was given." Hugh Nibley notes that brother John Welch, who teaches at the Brigham Young University Law School, has made a very good study on this text relating to the payment of judges according to the senine. It seems that in the ancient court the judge had to be paid before you were let out of prison. It says here that the judges' pay was one senine a day. Later on it tells us in 3 Nephi 12:26 that you won't come out of prison until you have paid the last senine. They won't let you out until you have paid the judges. The judge is paid if nothing else. That's exactly the system we have in the Book of Mormon. [Hugh W. Nibley, Teachings of the Book of Mormon, Semester 2, p. 316]