Jasper Fforde. Another Thursday Next novel, and just as much fun as the first two. This one is bundled with special features at the website. (You do need to have read the book to know the password.) And here’s a great passage from page 301:
“Welcome to The Judgment of Solomon ®. It’s arbitration, mainly, a bit of licensing...”
“You’re King Solomon?”
The old man laughed. “Me? You must be joking! There aren’t enough minutes in the day for one Solomon–as soon as he did that ‘divide the baby in two’ thing, everyone and his uncle wanted him to arbitrate–from corporate takeovers to playground disputes. So he did what any right-thinking businessman would do: he franchised. How else to you think he could afford the temple and the chariots and the navy and whatnot? The land he sold to Hiram of Tyre? Give me a break! My real name’s Kenneth.”
I looked a little doubtful.
“I know what you’re thinkng. ‘The Judgment of Kenneth’ does sound a bit daft–that’s why we are licensed to give judgments under his name. All aboveboard, I assure you. You have to purchase the cloak and grow a beard and go on the training course, but it works out very well....”