The Trobriand Islanders: Primitive Law as Seen by Bronislaw Malinowski, chapter 8 from Hoebel's Law of Primitive Man
Each canoe is ‘owned.' All must fulfil his duties to others so that the canoe can be operated to full efficiency whenever the occasion demands, and each who engaged receives his fair share of the catch, mutual obligation. When inlanders receive fish they later bring back vegetables in exchange, so there is also a legal side, mutual obligations which forces the fisherman to repay whatever he received as a gift. It isn't an open market barter but a man-to-man exchange partnership.
Boy and his father belong to separate clans. Inheritance of position devolves from mother's brother. The father ‘naturally’ prefers his son, but ‘legally’ must endow and foster his nephew. Thus the powerful legal system of Mother-right is associated with a rather weak sentiment, while Father-love, much less important in law, is backed by strong personal feeling.
A man must marry outside his village and subclan.
Hereditary executioners of paramount chief.
Clans, plus hereditary chieftainship, rigid status, frequent sorcery, undeveloped machinery for handling the trouble case. Juristic skill is not a Trobriand attribute.
Trobriand Islands postulates: A woman must marry before she may have children. High rank entails priveleges not to be enjoyed by commoners. Personal prestige comes from the number of gardens a man can work. Generosity (careless style) of food and wealth is praiseworthy.
Forbidden women, stealing crops. The ancestral spirits of the clan are angered.
The overt ignoring of incestuous activities (until jelously denounced) opens significant revelations about social morality. When the issue is publicly forced into the open, the social handling of it becomes a different matter. Actually a pretend rule. Magical prophylactics for the preventin of disease. Tabu as existing to protect the solidarity and security of the kinship group from the disrupting influences of sexual jealousy. When speaking in a public situation: incest is horrible. In intimate confidence however ...
If he had kept his mouth shut, it would not have been necessary for the criminal to execute himself. His reward is a severe beating and wounding.
Sorcerers use their powers to achieve wealth and influence. Flagrant use of the power makes a sorcerer a marked man. Excessive use a public crime. Few Trobrianders are willing to be made victims of sorcery without striking back at the sorcerer.
Through a garden magician preparing fields, planting, harvesting, his ritual efforts on behalf of the community are required. Through his magic and his alone are the forces of fertility controlled.
Obeisance, to not overdecorate a house, by not getting too rich, is for a lower ranked man to overreach. Oppression. It seems there are strong drives in Trobriand social life toward nonacceptance of the sacrosanct priveleges of the chief. Unholy alliance between shaman and chief, sorcery provides the main source of sholesome fear of punishment in an orderly society.
Feud, obligatory in killing of high-ranked man, ended with lula payment. Also death penalty for high rank insults, and for adultery exposed in flagrante delicto.
Disloyalty.
Offenses against the person of a paramount chief: being too successful as a gardener, possessing too many goods, wearing personal ornaments reserved only for chiefs, overdecorating a house, boasting of wealth in presence of higher rank, failure to do proper obeisance, use of improper language to a chief. Execution. Between commoner and chief there may be no disputes.
"The undercurrent of malice, suspicion and envy which accompanies the display of food and the show of praise and admiration, may lead to bitter personal animosity, which in the Trobriands usually ends in attempts to kill by witchcraft.
If the kiling of the victim is looked upon as a privelege-right, then an unspecified series of acts for which the legitimate penalty is death. Overshadowing importance of breach.
Pretend that his choice was different and start cutting the plot he now voets.
Yelling matches. Give vent to their feelings and shows the trend of public opinion, and thus it may be of assistance in settling disputes. The quarelling parties may let it go with a lot of noise, and this does accomplish something; the alternative.
Competitive food exchange a more common resort. An encounter between two normally friendly villages.
However, nowadays 'The natives are now afraid of fighting and try to avoid"
Theft does not fall under the jurisdiction of law. Shame apparently strong enough.
Boy and his father belong to separate clans. Inheritance of position devolves from mother's brother. The father ‘naturally’ prefers his son, but ‘legally’ must endow and foster his nephew. Thus the powerful legal system of Mother-right is associated with a rather weak sentiment, while Father-love, much less important in law, is backed by strong personal feeling.
A man must marry outside his village and subclan.
Hereditary executioners of paramount chief.
Clans, plus hereditary chieftainship, rigid status, frequent sorcery, undeveloped machinery for handling the trouble case. Juristic skill is not a Trobriand attribute.
Trobriand Islands postulates: A woman must marry before she may have children. High rank entails priveleges not to be enjoyed by commoners. Personal prestige comes from the number of gardens a man can work. Generosity (careless style) of food and wealth is praiseworthy.
Forbidden women, stealing crops. The ancestral spirits of the clan are angered.
The overt ignoring of incestuous activities (until jelously denounced) opens significant revelations about social morality. When the issue is publicly forced into the open, the social handling of it becomes a different matter. Actually a pretend rule. Magical prophylactics for the preventin of disease. Tabu as existing to protect the solidarity and security of the kinship group from the disrupting influences of sexual jealousy. When speaking in a public situation: incest is horrible. In intimate confidence however ...
If he had kept his mouth shut, it would not have been necessary for the criminal to execute himself. His reward is a severe beating and wounding.
Sorcerers use their powers to achieve wealth and influence. Flagrant use of the power makes a sorcerer a marked man. Excessive use a public crime. Few Trobrianders are willing to be made victims of sorcery without striking back at the sorcerer.
Through a garden magician preparing fields, planting, harvesting, his ritual efforts on behalf of the community are required. Through his magic and his alone are the forces of fertility controlled.
Obeisance, to not overdecorate a house, by not getting too rich, is for a lower ranked man to overreach. Oppression. It seems there are strong drives in Trobriand social life toward nonacceptance of the sacrosanct priveleges of the chief. Unholy alliance between shaman and chief, sorcery provides the main source of sholesome fear of punishment in an orderly society.
Feud, obligatory in killing of high-ranked man, ended with lula payment. Also death penalty for high rank insults, and for adultery exposed in flagrante delicto.
Disloyalty.
Offenses against the person of a paramount chief: being too successful as a gardener, possessing too many goods, wearing personal ornaments reserved only for chiefs, overdecorating a house, boasting of wealth in presence of higher rank, failure to do proper obeisance, use of improper language to a chief. Execution. Between commoner and chief there may be no disputes.
"The undercurrent of malice, suspicion and envy which accompanies the display of food and the show of praise and admiration, may lead to bitter personal animosity, which in the Trobriands usually ends in attempts to kill by witchcraft.
If the kiling of the victim is looked upon as a privelege-right, then an unspecified series of acts for which the legitimate penalty is death. Overshadowing importance of breach.
Pretend that his choice was different and start cutting the plot he now voets.
Yelling matches. Give vent to their feelings and shows the trend of public opinion, and thus it may be of assistance in settling disputes. The quarelling parties may let it go with a lot of noise, and this does accomplish something; the alternative.
Competitive food exchange a more common resort. An encounter between two normally friendly villages.
However, nowadays 'The natives are now afraid of fighting and try to avoid"
Theft does not fall under the jurisdiction of law. Shame apparently strong enough.
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