न राज्यं न राजाऽसीन्न दण्डयो न च दाण्डिक: |
धर्मेणैव प्रजास्सर्वा रक्षन्ति स्म परस्परम् ||

There is no kingdom nor any king! No criminal nor any judge to give the penalty to the criminal!! All the people protect each other by the virtue of Dharma (The meaning of Dharma being explained in Subhaashita No.17). This is a ‘varnan’ of an ‘Aadarsha’ samaj !! A samaj which is a ‘live’ samaj in which each and every individual lives completely up to his responsibility!! Only a samaj which will be made up of such ‘ideal’ individuals can ‘realise’ the above subhaashita!! One example is worth mentioning. If the number of social service organisations such as orphanages, child care centres etc. keep growing then is it a healthy sign of progress of society or not?? Infact such institutions will come up because the relatives or neighbours may have failed to do their Dharma!! this is told by Bhishmacharya to Yudhisthir in shantiparva (after mahabharat war). while he was lying on “sharapanjari” waiting for bed. Bhishmacharya is generally telling dharmaraja about hou good his rule should be. you may have noticed that the subhashit is in past tans. this situation (praja dharmeNaiva parasparm rakshanti sma) was there in India long back. much before raja-praja system was introduced. to my knowledge ekshwaku was the first king (any body can correct me if i’m wrong.)