One Text Table or Multiple Text Tables - Design Tradeoffs?

(Trying to start a new thread instead of my accidental intrusion into another thread)

Hello Everyone, 

In a text-heavy database, I'm trying to make an initial design decision in the following context. 

There is a lot of long text that I could break down into three different categories:       a. Laws                i.
Only1 country per law, many laws               ii. There are multiple types of laws (statutes, regulations, court
cases,proposed laws, etc)               iii. Each law will have only one type               iv. Each law may refer to
manyother laws       b. Treaties                i. 2 countries per treaty               ii. At any one time, there will
onlybe one treaty in force between any two countries               iii. There may be proposed new treaties which will
supercedeold treaties when finally ratified       c. Commentary                i. Any commentary could refer to one or
morelaws or treaties               ii. Any commentary may have one or more authors               iii. Any commentary
mayrefer to one or more countries
 

The conceptual question is what are the trade-offs between having one textual table compared with multiple text tables?
Anyhelp on pointing out practical considerations would be appreciated.
 

Thanks.

Bryan