OLD CUSTOMS OF LAWLESSNESS. 107 



considerably longer than it does now, or during the whole interval that 

 might have elapsed between the death of a ruler and the accession of a 

 new chief. As such an interval is superfluous in hereditary monarchies, 

 where a successor to the throne is always at hand, we must relegate 

 the origin of the custom to that period of the people's life when the 

 chief obtained his office by election. A connection with election is 

 indicated in the case cited by Grimm and confirmed by Livingstone's 

 relation. If the custom continues after the office has become heredi- 

 tary, it is evidently only as a survival. 



The condition of disorder assumed another form in Tahiti, where, 

 upon the death of the chief, the several districts of the nation made 

 sham wars upon one another, which were sure to end in real plun- 

 dering. This phase of the custom appears to have been an outgrowth 

 of the federative nature of the state. The bond of union between the 

 provinces having been severed, the mutual jealousies, which always 

 prevail between adjoining communities, broke out in force, and found 

 expression in the singular way that we have indicated. Questions 

 were sure to arise, as to which district should nominate the new chief, 

 that would be certain to generate disturbance. The hostile relations 

 would cease as soon as the new chief was chosen and the federal bond 

 was restored ; for the several communities would again be members 

 of the same political body, under a common head, and would be com- 

 pelled to live in at least outward unity. The custom of legal anar- 

 chy in this form, then, appears to be a survival from a condition in 

 which neighboring districts waged constant, real wars with each other, 

 and gave to destruction all the property they could get of their rivals ; 

 and its existence in countries where the chiefdom has become heredi- 

 tary may be regarded as a sign that a federative system, with an elect- 

 ive chief, once existed there. Confirmation of this view is afforded 

 by the existence of a tradition among the Ashantees, where the royal 

 dignity is now hereditary, according to which the nation was once a 

 federation of twelve territories. 



It is easy to believe that, in view of the periodical disorders to 

 which federatively constituted states are liable, such forms must give 

 way to more solid ones, as soon as the instinctive, mutual hostility of 

 the allied territories is extinguished, under the continuous operation 

 of an associated life ; and that the efforts of powerful families to ap- 

 propriate the chieftainship to themselves as an hereditary possession 

 will find sympathizers among those who dread the return of a tem- 

 porary legal anarchy as an accompaniment of each new election. It 

 will, moreover, be important, after the hereditability of the royal 

 office has been accepted, to establish the principle of the uninterrupted 

 existence of that office. According to this principle, the throne is 

 never vacant ; or, as it is expressed in the English common law, "the 

 king never dies." In Dahomey, this fiction assumes the form that no 

 demise of the royal authority has taken place, and the heir reigns in 



