Verses 8-13 are interesting. If the law courts could not decide an issue, then they were to go to the priests for a decision. Now we need to remember that cases could only be brought to the courts in the first place if there were at least two witnesses, so we are not talking about any trumped up charge here. There would have been a proper case which just proved to be too difficult to decide.
Now the idea of taking things to the priests goes against all thinking in our society, but we would do well to think for a moment or two. We try to solve every problem by setting up laws and processes. Now good laws and processes are valuable, but they cannot decide everything. Our current legal system is a complete shambles, and seems to do precious little for justice in many cases.
Israel did not have a king, and was not meant to have one. However, in the time of Samuel she demanded a king and was given one. God knew this would eventually happen, so He gives them rules concerning the king. First, he must be an Israelite. There were also restrictions put on the king, he was not to become an absolute monarch. He was not to become enormously wealthy, and he was not allowed to take the people back to Egypt. In modern parlance this would be "against the constitution". Nor was he to have many wives. Solomon, of course, famously fell foul of this one, and was indeed led astray.
The king was to devote himself to the Law. He was there not to get his own way, but to rule on God's behalf. Nor was he to consider himself better than the rest of the people.
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