Reply To: Who is the new leader of Klal Yisrael?

Frum, every organized Jewish community has the power to make takkanot for that community (Rema CH 2). The autonomous Jewish communities in pre-Napoleonic Europe had elected councils (the Maharil, among others, discusses who has the right to vote and be elected) which made laws (interestingly the book Juspa of Worms brings down that his job as shamash included assessing and collecting taxes – he would walk into people’s homes and make his assessments on the basis of their lifestyles). In Poland-Lithuania the Council of the Four Lands formed a national Jewish government. It was called the Jewish Sejm. The rabbanim exercised judicial functions, including judicial review.