Exodus 21:1 Now these are the judgments which thou shalt set before them.
Exodus 21, 22, and 23 lay out details about how Israel should deal with one another. These judgments were specific in detail. These judgments were set in place while Israel was not keeping the covenant of the circumcision. They detail God’s desire for life within the camp before they ever came to the promise land.
In chapter 24 they were written in a book referred to as the book of the covenant. Nowhere within those chapters are there penalties for judgments violated. Penalties for violations would come in the books of Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Mosaic and Levitical laws are separate from these judgments.
When presented with these judgments the people swore to keep those judgments without a promise of performance nor fear of penalty. This is similar to a covenant promise made by man to God apart from promises from God. When we make covenant promises we are bound to our words. If we break them we are found to be liars. God is not bound to covenants we make alone.
Isaiah 44:24-25 English Standard Version (ESV)
24 Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, who formed you from the womb: “I am the Lord, who made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself,
25 who frustrates the signs of liars and makes fools of diviners, who turns wise men back and makes their knowledge foolish,
We are accountable for our words. This however is not the second type of covenant. The second covenant of God was foreshadowed in the wilderness journey while Israel failed to keep the covenant of the circumcision. It was signaled by the design of the wilderness tabernacle, the Ark of the Covenant and the sacrificial rites of the Levitical priesthood.
The sign that was shown while Israel was outside the covenant of circumcision is significant. The New Covenant was extended beyond the sign of circumcision to all mankind.