Was Thingol right to impose the Quest of the 💎Silmaril upon Beren?

He also could have just said, "No way, now get out of here."

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I think it should be noted that Thingol's first desire was to have Beren run through right there. He thought the fellow deserved death or at least utter humiliation. He wasn't trying to say it in a nice way. He was trying to say it in a way that would disgrace him, humiliate him, and make sure he never came back. He wanted to make sure that if the guy was the persistant type, every time he came back to repeat the request (which he would've had he given a "No way.") Thingol could say, "Only if you have a Silmaril in your back pocket." At which Beren would again slink away humiliated. I think Thingol saw this as a good alternative to killing the fellow out right. It made him lose face before Luthien. It made him probably not care to show up again. AND it made him very unlikely to mention that he'd had dalliance with Thingol's little girl--something I imagine Thingol didn't wish to have spread around Arda.

But to knowing REQUIRE somebody to do something life-threatening can be construed as legally wrong.

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And what constitutes life threatening? A bike stunt can be life threatening. Diving off a high board can be life threatening if you do it stupidly. Swimming across a river channel. We make dares like this all the time.

I do think the kid should've been suspended, but due to the legal precedent, no, not legal action by government. Government will take anything like that too far.

But you do if you want to join my club.

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I think that I'd be an idiot to want to join your club in that case.

People have gone to jail for simply saying something to the police, even when it's not sworn testimony in court, that implicates someone in a crime they didn't commit.

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But that's different. That's making a false statement to injure someone or protect someone else. I think that there isn't any room for wide precedents on that.

I kind of think he wasn't even serious. It was like his way of saying 'no way in Hell' ... but since Beren actually took it on and succeeded, of course Thingol had to say yes.

Exactly Mimzy. Remember in the Greek myth of Perseus when the king gives Perseus the impossible task of bringing back Medusa's head in exchange for his daughter, in the hopes that Perseus would never return. That is exactly what this was like. So of course he was right. How could he not be right? He can impose any condition on Beren he feels like, that is assuming you already agree with the idea that you need the father's permission.