Fetichism in West Africa : $b forty years' observation of native customs and superstitions
John Stuart Mill · en
There is no right of asylum to any offender within the limit of his own
tribe. In case of a man visiting, for any reason whatever, in the limits
of another tribe one of whose members is a fugitive from justice into the
limits of the visitor's tribe, this visitor may be seized, and his
countrymen asked to extradite the criminal staying in their midst.
Corporal punishment is administered publicly, the townspeople being called
to witness it, so as to operate on their fears and cause them to dread the
doing of deeds which may bring on them such a penalty.
4. _Punishable Acts._ A person is punishable only for an injury committed
intentionally, not by accident.
For damages by cattle, the animal may be killed if the damage be
considerable. The injured party may keep and eat the carcass, and the
owner cannot recover for it. In this respect animals are treated as human
beings, their lives being forfeit; and the owner's majawe are held
responsible along with him.
Punishments are rated according to the degree of the crime, in the order
theft, adultery, rape, murder. Insults are not punishable by law; the
insulted insults in return. If a fight results, and wounds are made during
the fight, no fine is required.
Kidnapping, incest, and abortion are not known.
Under the slight duty owed to kings, treason can scarcely be said to
exist. Its equivalent, the betrayal of tribal interests, is publicly
rebuked, and a curse laid on the offender. If he be a servant, he is
beaten and sent away.
The disturber of the peace of a wedding is expected to express regret, but
no calamity will follow because of the disturbance. The offence is not
common.
X. TERRITORIAL RELATIONS.
The tribes have fixed settlements wherever foreign governments have not
taken possession. Each man may choose for a garden a place that has not
been already occupied. The land is common property for the tribe. But each
ijawe may choose a separate place for itself.
No man of a tribe has any claim on the soil other than is common to any
other man of that tribe. He has, however, a claim greater than any
stranger.
1. _Tenure._ Land is held as common property; it is not bought or sold to
a fellow-tribeman. It may be bought from the confines of another tribe,
and it is sold to foreigners. A hunter is free to go anywhere, even into
the territory of an adjacent tribe. If he kills game there, he does not
have to divide. Bee trees and honey are free to any one. The sea is free
for fishing only to the coast tribes.
Every woman has a separate garden; even the wives of polygamists do not
have gardens in common.