Law Enforcement
One of the most common anachronisms in fantasy games is the police force. There are no police, under any name. Towns and larger districts may have an officer charged with keeping the peace, but they have no sort of uniformed or organized gendarmerie. Nor do police investigate crimes in any way. The job of the bailiff or equivalent officer is simply to seize lawbreakers and haul them into custody.
In place of the police force is the hue and cry. This is literally, a cry of “Stop, thief!” or the equivalent. It is a crime for any man to ignore the hue and cry, so thieves and the like are generally apprehended by an angry mob of ordinary people. If the hue and cry is insufficient, the local authorities may use whatever men-at-arms they have.
For more serious criminals (or enemies of the state) is outlawry. Outlawry is a declaration of guilt by the authorities (the king or whoever has the power). There is no defense, no trial. The accused does not even have the opportunity to answer the charge. An outlaw is banned from society, and it is the duty of all free men to kill or capture him on sight. Those who do not are treated as criminals themselves. Serfs and women, as noncombatants, are generally exempt from seizing outlaws, but may still be punished for harboring them.