CLI - Stateless Societies + Order w/o Law Flashcards
Who were the Illinois pre-colonizaiton and what were their political institutions?
The Illinois were a migratory group of independent tribes w/o political institutions
What social norms did the Illinois use among themselves to solve problems typically addressed by formal legal institutions?
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Intragroup dispute resolution techniques - the group would collectively enforce punishment
- Murder: the murderer could compensate the victim’s family, or a blood feud may form
- May banish murderer (like Iceland) if the crime was reprehensible
- Accidental injuries: strict liability rule of compensation for victim
- Administrability: limiting conflict & time of resolution
- No Levmore moral hazard issues b/c everyone knows each other
- Murder: the murderer could compensate the victim’s family, or a blood feud may form
How did the Illinois resolve disputes with other tribes?
- Blood feud likely results
- Rules: obligation for one group to avenge the member who was killed unless the other group pays compensation
- Obligation rather than option to retaliate in order to deter murder
- Each group has an incentive to control their own folks
- Proportionality: You can kill 1 for 1 but not more than that
What political organization did the Illinois use?
- Young men took turns serving as police, destroying property of anyone who jeopardized the hunt’s success – no permanent officials to enforce social norms
- Raiding parties were fairly small and led by a war leader
- When people were hurt in the raids, the leader compensated the families
- Best incentivizes the raider to take care of ppl on the hunt while still seeking food and status
- When people were hurt in the raids, the leader compensated the families
How did Illinois deal with property?
- Communal ownership of land
- Only get property rights in land when cost of exclusion is less than benefit to exclusion – dispersed population, so unnecessary
- Native societies did have personal property in form of their personal effects
What is the Pashtunwalli?
- Pashtuns - ethnic group of some 40 million, occupies a large swath of territory across Afghanistan and Pakistan - has never been completely integrated into a state
- Pashtunwalli - tribal code - central element of Pashtun identity: indeed, it is said “to be a Pashtun to observe the Pashtunwalli.”
What are key norms of the Pashtun people?
hospitality, revenge, submission
When do the Pashtun people resolve disputes? How do they enforce decisions?
- Jirga consists of a collection of local notables that meet with the parties to settle disputes
- Its decisions reflect the will of the community
- Punishments: ostracization, apologies accompanied by a fine (por)
- Por compensation can include women, which is preferred to tie the families together and prevent future conflict
- Parties choose the controlling law: Islamic or pashtunwalli (customary)
- Competition between these systems make it so both arrive at just decisions
- Parties post a bond prior to the session that will be forfeited if they do not abide by the decision
Who lived in Iceland way back when and what legal system did they use?
- Iceland was a remote society with a majority pagan, minority Christian population
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Iceland’s legal system was modeled on Norway’s except they chose not to include a king
- Consists of legislature, courts and a “law-speaker” who presided over the legislature for three years and recited the entire legal code once
- No criminal law because no King
Which legal office was central to the Icelandic legal system and what did they do?
Legal system surrounded the office of “Godi” which was sorta a local chieftan
You were sued in the court based on which Godi you had
What happened if you lost a tort claim in Iceland way back when?
If you lost your (tort) case, you had to pay or the plaintiff could bring an action to declare you an outlaw, permitting anyone to kill you with impunity and anyone who helps you can be sued
Same remedy for every case (criminal and tort)
Judgement proof offenders could repay in a temporary slavery (“debt thralldom”)
How did the court attract and enforce decisions for court claims in long-ago Iceland?
- Tort claims were transferable to anyone if victim couldn’t afford a court case
- Concealment is a further offense + shameful
- If you killed someone, you had to announce publicly your name and that of who you killed or guilty of concealment
How did the Icelandic legal system end?
- Starting in 1000AD conflicts between Pagans and Christians supported by Norway
- Arbitration postponed the inevitable, but in 1263 Iceland voted to become part of Norway after 200 years of feud between rival factions
How did they prosecute crimes in England?
- No police nor prosecutors to enforce criminal law
- Any Englishman could prosecute any crime (usually the victim)
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Societies for Prosecution: Novel solution to lack of incentive to prosecute
- Everyone contributed an annual sum and money was spent prosecuting anyone who committed a felony against a member
- Membership lists made out in newspapers, so felons would be apprised
- Converting deterrence to a private rather than public good
- Systems of rewards for prosecution: Novel solution for anonymous crimes (highwaymen)
How did they punish crimes in England? What recourse was available to convicted criminals?
ALL CRIMES PUNISHED BY DEATH… unless
- Clergy (defined as those who could read) could plead “benefit of clergy” to have their case removed to Ecclesiastical Courts (no death penalty)
- Eventually some felonies became unclergiable as literacy increased
- “Pious perjury” – Court might pardon on condition of (1) enlisting in army or (2) being indentured servant in new world
- “Pleading her belly” – pregnant women got noncapital punishment
- Selective pardoning efficiently corrected the harshness of this punishment
- More people who testify or petition on one’s behalf, greater likelihood of negative externalities if death penalty administered
- Pardons could be effectively bought by promise of favor to a high status person from the friends of the offender
- In effect, a fine penalty rather than execution
- In practice: 40% convicted, 40% of those hung – if charged, 1/6 died
