The origin and development of the moral ideasWestermarck, Edward
Philosophy
The origin and development of the moral ideas
Westermarck, Edward
Ethics; Ethics -- History; Prehistoric peoples
[Footnote 76: _Laws of Wihtræd_, 25.]
[Footnote 77: Crawfurd, _op. cit._ iii. 115.]
[Footnote 78: _Institutiones_, iv. 1. 5.]
[Footnote 79: _Laws of Alfred_, ii. 7.]
The difference between an injury which a person inflicts deliberately,
in cold blood, and one which he inflicts in the heat of the moment,
under the disturbance of great excitement caused by a wrong done to
himself, has been widely recognised. There are instances reported of
savages who distinguish between murder and manslaughter. And the laws
of all civilised nations agree in regarding, on certain conditions,
passion aroused by provocation as a mitigating circumstance at the
commission of a crime.
The Australian Narrinyeri, as we have seen, have a tribunal, called
_tendi_, consisting of the elders of the clan, to which all offenders
are brought for trial. "In case of the slaying by a person or persons
of one clan of the member of another clan in time of peace, the
fellow-clansmen of the murdered man will send to the friends of the
murderer and invite them to bring him to trial before the united
tendies. If, after full inquiry, he is found to have committed the
crime, he will be punished according to the degree of guilt. If it
were a case of murder, with malice aforethought, he would be handed
over to his own clan to be put to death by spearing. If it should be
what we call manslaughter, he would receive a good thrashing, or be
banished from his clan, or compelled to go to his mother's {295}
relations."[80] In the Pelew Islands, if two natives are quarrelling,
and the one says to the other, "Your wife is bad," the insulted party
is entitled to chastise the provoker with a stone, and is not held
liable even if the latter should die in consequence.[81] The Eastern
Central Africans "are aware of the difference between murder and
homicide," even though the punishment of the two crimes is often the
same.[82] Among the Kandhs only slight compensation is awarded "for
wounds, however serious, given under circumstances of extreme
provocation."[83] "_Valdeyak_, or manslaughter," says Georgi, "is not
capital among the Tungusians, when it has been occasioned by some
antecedent quarrel. The slayer is however whipped, and obliged to
maintain the family of the deceased: he undergoes no reproaches on
account of the affair; but on the contrary is considered as a brave
and courageous man for it."[84]
[Footnote 80: Taplin, 'Narrinyeri,' in Woods, _Native Tribes of South
Australia_, p. 34 _sq._]
[Footnote 81: Kubary, 'Die Palau-Inseln,' in _Journal des Museum
Godeffroy_, iv. 43 _sq._]
[Footnote 82: Macdonald, _Africana_, i. 172.]
[Footnote 83: Macpherson, _op. cit._ p. 82.]
[Footnote 84: Georgi, _Russia_, iii. 83. _Cf._ also Turner, 'Ethnology
of the Ungava District,' in _Ann. Rep. Bur. Ethn._ xi. 186.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account