User blog comment:Tholanar/If you were the High Queen or King of Skyrim..../@comment-4057437-20121220094550/@comment-5790858-20121222022804

Technically, the High King can pass any law he wants for Skyrim, but the Jarls don't have to neccesarily uphold them if they don't want to. If the High King made a law to ban   the drinking of mead, it would be illegal to drink mead anywhere in Skyrim, but the Jarl's don't have to uphold the laws if they dont' like them, and it would be up to the High King and his army to uphold these laws throughout the land without help. Obviously that'd be pretty hard, so if the High King/Queen just went around making bullshit laws, they simply wouldn't be enforced, not to mention they'd probably be overthrown.