The regulations to which the practice of revenge is subject, help us to understand the transition from revenge to punishment, and the establishment of a special judicial authority. As long as retaliation is in the hands of private individuals, there is no guarantee, on the one hand, that the offender will have to suffer, on the other hand, that the act of retaliation will be sufficiently discriminate. The injured party may be too weak, or otherwise unable, to avenge himself. His readiest course, then, is to appeal to the chief for help. The chief, on his part, has an interest in interfering--he may of course expect a handsome reward for his assistance,[83]--and, in so far as the community at large wishes that the offender shall suffer, the chief may even be bound to interfere. Thus in the Sandwich Islands, the family or the friends of an injured person--who in cases of assault or murder were by common consent justified in taking revenge--used to appeal to the chief of the district or to the king, when they were too weak to attack the offender themselves.[84] Among the Wanyoro, according to Emin Pasha, should the murderer escape, the nearest relatives of the murdered man apply to the chief of the tribe to procure the punishment of the culprit.[85] The Indians of Brazil, when offended, sometimes bring their cause before the chief; but they do it seldom, since they consider it disgraceful for a man not to be able to avenge himself.[86] The judicial authority granted to the Basuto chief "also insures justice to foreigners, and to individuals who, having no relations, are deprived of their natural defenders and avengers."[87] In ancient Greece, in early times, special care was taken by the State for the protection of the weak and helpless, who otherwise had been unavenged.[88] In the Middle Ages, the {181} poor and the weak were placed under the King's protection; the intervention of royal justice, as Du Boys observes, "apparaissait comme un bienfait pour les faibles et un secours pour les opprimés."[89] [Footnote 83: Steinmetz, _Rechtsverhältnisse_, p. 311. _Cf._ Brunner, _Deutsche Rechtsgeschichte_, i. 165.] [Footnote 84: Ellis, _Tour through Hawaii_, p. 429.] [Footnote 85: _Emin Pasha in Central Africa_, p. 86.] [Footnote 86: von Martius, _op. cit._ i. 132.] [Footnote 87: Casalis, _op. cit._ p. 226.] [Footnote 88: Leist, _Græco-italische Rechtsgeschichte_, p. 372.] [Footnote 89: **Du Boys, _Histoire du droit criminel de l'Espagne_, p. 237.]