Earlier, not too far back, the Ashanti were a neolithic, hunting, and mussel-eating people. Grasslands of the western Sudan, sedentary gardeners (presumably), then rooted themselves in the forests (because of Moslem horse nomads). Tribes payed tribute to others. Osai Tutu, military hero and statesman allied with his priest and counselor.
Maternal lineage, blood, versus spirit, both exogamous groups within which marriage is banned, food taboos, totemic. Blood principle controls land rights, succession to property, offices, it determines political status almost entirely, as well as legal responsibilities. Wives go to husbands on marriage, evening meals in home of lineage head. Buried. Lineage head chosen by all adult men and senior women, usually hereditary. The nominees name must be presented to district chief, for he will also sit on the chief's council, sworn to serve, sworn in, earthly agent of ancestral spirits, set standards of right and wrong conduct. Headman of lineage that is usually the first lineage that settled there. In earlier times, when the village was the supremely autonomous unit, all legal matters were ‘household affairs’. They consisted of private wrongs that were adjusted by arbitration without recourse to physical force. His judgements were held not to be of his own making. The Natural Law idea of the Ashanti flowed from the belief that the Supreme Deity, the Earth, and all the gods, as well as the ancestors, had their ways, and the natural world pulsated in accord with the way of the supernaturals. Flaunt defiance of headman's suggested settlements ... ‘Repairing the house, so that it became dry.’ A wet house is one in which the head sits moodily and brooding. The feeling for ‘rightness.’ If the mundane courts and legal processes fail to translate the ancestral will into proper action, the ancestors will act in accordance with their right notions of due process and ‘try’ the case themselves. The ancestors will punish the group as a whole, if the group does not punish the sinner and atone for his misdeed. A man is morally, legally, and individual responsible for his acts.
Queen mother. Earth was conceived as a female principle. No man could claim to own a part of her. What was separable was the usufruct of the land and the crops the usufruct brought. His right to farm was proven by his kinship to an ancestor. ‘The chief owns the land,’ but this was only figurative. A conquered Ashanti division kept its essential control over its land. Menstruation is inimical to the supernatural powers of men (most primitive peoples).
Family property. Personal property (chattels by his individual efforts or the work of his slaves, wives and children), through a man's sole efforts or money. Originally, all property passed to the clan or lineage.
odekuro, headmen of several outlying villages. Lineage in the capital. Appointed to represent the interests of outlying villages.Territorial army. Ashanti had become a military state. No tribe could secede (would mean immediate war). Electoral meeting. If 3 unacceptable candidates proposed by the royal lineage were
rejected, council proceeded to name one of the line themselves. Once on
the stool, the chief had no personal property. Whatever he brought was
‘nationalized.’ Impeachment meant impoverishment, as all property
brought to it remained. He could levy special taxes, with consent of
council. His fields were worked by public corvèe, and he
had other sources of revenue. Lavish in gift-giving and feasting, or
destooled. The bureaucracy needed income. General assessments, except
for war, were unconstitutional. The power to fine. More than support is
abuse of a proper function. Began to welcome litigation, in direct
antithesis to that found in the original courts. A new Ashanti adage was
formed: ‘If the chief tries to conciliate parties in a street quarrel,
he will soon be starving.’ Even the gods were brought into play, to
encourage people to break law and custom. Once the monarchy was
established the people placed more and more of the dispute-settling
process in the hands of the power-wielding third party, the royal state.
While in the official position of leadership, he is sacred.
Association of young men with their representative, he took no oath of personal allegiance to a higher chieftain. Commoners vetoing or approving.
The chief, for a fee and as a public service, sent his treasurer as collector. If didn't pay, ‘the debtor hated the king.’
To kill a member of one's own clan, was extruded, at mercy of outsiders, corporate responsibility for his act ceased to operate, and the vendetta was thus avoided.
Crimes were sins. Hated by the tribe. Hated by the ancestors. Channel behavior to maintain a quiet equilibrium. Its supporting sanction was death, the legal penalty for all crimes. Furthermore, it arrogated unto itself an absolute monopoly of this right.
The court examined all the possible motives it could think of. Certain acts as declarations of intent to kill. Psychological investigation. In matters of intent, drunkenness was a valid defense for all crimes but homicide and cursing the king. Men are endowed with conscious will, except when drunk or misdirected by an evil spirit in certain limited situations. A plea of insanity held for all criminal offenses, and a madman would not be executed, left to die chained to a tree, unless his relatives chose to feed him (first mention of ‘imprisonment’ in Hoebel's book). 'No man knows a single thing that came into your head, but, because that you did not bring your case here that we might take good ears to hear it, but took a club and struck the Akyeame, and when you kill us (thus) you regard us as brute beasts, therefore you are guilty.' All his private property confiscated.
War captains who lost a battle were expected to kill themselves, this was honorable.
Incest. Most could do under the old system was extrude the incestuous. Ostracize, ridicule. New death power of the central authority.
Chiefs' wives. The man dissected.
For ordinary men, insults were private delicts. Woman to call a man a fool capital crime.
Sorcery. Local tabus.
‘By the great forbidden name ...' In the hearing of a third person, or it went for naught. Under a royal duty to make an arrest. Chain both men to a log. To the chief's palace. The Speaker. A proper chief rarely talked in public. The arrester merely reported that he had heard them use the forbidden oath. Who used it first? First Defendant. Other was the Second Defendant. Day set for trial. Kept in chains an looked after by that guy, paid for by the prisoners. No writing but yes a formal juridical structure. Were these the words of your mouth, or do I lie? The elders cross-examined either or both freely and informally. The chief listened but did not usually probe himself. Trials open to public. Did people talk or use a spokesman, in actual practice? ‘I have a witness.' Messenger to go get witness, sworn to not carry any of the conversation to the place where you are going. (Must have arranged ahead of time for someone to agree to serve as a witness and to stay away from the court). Elders then decided among themselves. Pronounce judgement. Heralds came forward to sprinkle white clay on the back of the acquitted who then paid aseda to the chief as certification of his acquittal. Guilty party sentenced by king or allowed to buy his head. Witnesses believed to sometimes give false testimony. Oracle. Ordeal, primarily in witchcraft and adultery cases where there were no witnesses. Ordeal never imposed but could be requested by the accused.
Suppliment/Refrences (Only admin can write)