academy of sciences] CUSTOMS REGULATING DOMESTIC RELATIONS, ETC. 169 



ILLEGITIMATE CHILDREN 



In all my wandering among the Manobos, I never knew nor heard of an illegitimate child, 

 so can not say what regulations govern, if such births occur. In Mandayaland the father of 

 an illegitimate child is obliged to marry the girl and to enter his father-in-law's family in a state 

 of semiservitude. The marriage takes place before the birth of the child. 



I was told by Mandayas that illegitimate children belong to the nearest male relative of 

 the mother, that in case of her marriage they still belong to her relative, and that they are treated 

 in all other respects as legitimate children. 



EXTENT OF AUTHORITY OF FATHER AND HUSBAND 



The laws governing family relations are very simple. The father has theoretically absolute 

 power of life and death over his wife, children, and slaves. In practice, however, this power is 

 seldom used to its full extent. An arbitrary exercise of domestic authority over his wife and 

 children would arouse the antagonism of her relatives and lead to a rupture of friendly relations. 

 Hence, in family dealings there are displayed on one side paternal affection and leniency and 

 on the other filial devotion and a sense of duty, so much so that the members of the family live 

 in peace and happiness with seldom a domestic grievance. 



The wife, of course, is the absolute property of her husband, but is rarely, if ever, sold. I 

 know of only one wife who was sold and she was a Bisaya woman married to a recently Chris- 

 tianized Manobo. 



It is not in accord with Manobo custom for a man to have two or more wives unless the 

 first wife consents to the later marriages, and, if she does consent, she must always be con- 

 sidered the man's favorite and must be allowed to have a kind of motherly jurisdiction over 

 the other wives. In all cases that .have come under my observation, this rule was followed 

 among Manobos but not among Mandayas. The latter frequently seem more attached to 

 their second, third, or fourth wives, but do not separate the first wife either from bed or board. 

 As a result of the necessity of the first wife's consent to a second marriage, bigamy is com- 

 paratively rare. 



RESIDENCE OF THE HUSBAND 



The man is always expected to take up his residence in his wife's family and he nearly always 

 does so. In fact, such is the implied and frequently the explicit contract made between his 

 relatives and those of the girl. But after a few years, if not sooner, he usually takes his wife 

 back to his own clan, leaving his father-in-law or other male relative of his wife some gift in the 

 shape of a pig or other payment. In such a case it seems to be the custom for the father-in-law 

 to acquiesce. 



CRIMES AND THEIR PENALTIES 



CRIMES 



It must be laid down as a general principle that in Manoboland it is considered proper and 

 obligatory to seek redress for all wrongs (except a few serious ones) by an appeal to the relatives 

 of the wrongdoer, either directly by a formal meeting or indirectly through the mediation of a 

 third party. The first exceptions to this rule are cases of adultery, fornication, rape, and homi- 

 cide when the murderer, wantonly, and without an attempt to arbitrate, kills a fellow man. 

 The great law of vengeance presupposes in nearly every case a recourse to arbitration, and not 

 a hasty, unannounced, deliberate killing. 



The one who orders the death of another or in any other way deliberately causes it is the 

 one on whom vengeance must be taken. Thus, if A pays a neutral warrior chief to kill his 

 opponent, the responsibility for the death will be laid, not on the warrior who did the killing 

 (unless he had personal motives for committing the murder) but on the one who ordered the death. 

 The warrior was paid and accordingly bears no responsibility. He may be paid again by the 

 relatives of the slain to do a similar act to their enemies. Thus it is, that in Man6boland, it is 



