LAW AND JUSTICE 333 



crimes are commonly the instinctive crimes of passion, it naturally follows that such 

 offences as murder and rape are regarded by them in a very different light from that in 

 which we look at them. Murder is regarded as a loss of strength caused to the family of 

 the person murdered, which may be compensated by the murderer replacing the mur- 

 dered man with others. Rape of an unmarried woman is regarded as so much loss caused 

 to her owner in the price procurable for her in the marriage market." In short they 

 are looked on as offences not against the person but against property. The idea of a 

 crime against society has no place in the native mind. 



In Mr. Northcote Thomas's "Marriage Customs of the Edo-speaking Peoples of 

 Nigeria " he cites a curious parallel to Jacob serving his father-in-law Laban for Rachel. 

 In addition to payment for a bride he says: " when the bride is young the suitor does a 

 certain amount of work on the farm of his future father-in-law and helps him in such 

 tasks as house-building." 



In Albania the system of accepting money payment for homicide is still in full force 

 (see Miss Durham's book High Albania). In a case of misadventure or manslaughter 

 the 14 which is the standard tariff will as a rule be accepted: but when bad blood is 

 aroused in a case of honour or vital interests the tender of cash is rejected and the 

 tribes enter upon a long blood feud. It might be supposed that such a feud could only 

 end with extermination, but there is a limit, though somewhat undefined. Thus, the 

 Kastratione and Hoti tribes being at feud, a Kastratione accompanied Miss Durham as 

 guide to the enemy's country. " All drank healths with him," she says, " he was the 

 honoured guest and they discussed pleasantly how many ' bloods ' would be required 

 before peace could be made. The house-master was quite frank: five was the number 

 he thought necessary. And the Kastran thought that five would satisfy them too." 

 What is so curious is the absolute reverence of these untamed mountaineers for law 

 co-existing with these bloodthirsty feuds: but the anomaly vanishes on a moment's 

 reflection. The vendetta is to them the law a family or social duty of primary obliga- 

 tion as it was to Hamlet the Dane 1 . 



Witchcraft is still a potent force among the native tribes of Africa. Laws and 

 magistrates are powerless to stamp it out. One of the latest criminal cases in the East 

 Africa Protectorate arose out of the elders of a tribe in solemn conclave haying 

 clubbed and stoned a witch-doctor. 



Ancient Monuments. There is a growing sense of the importance of protecting 

 ancient monuments and national works of art before it is too late. The natural beauties 

 of a country are being protected, and they run less risk of being spoilt than historic or 

 architectural buildings or ruins. Austria, France, Holland, Germany, Italy and the 

 United States have all legislated on the subject, and in the United Kingdom the Ancient 

 Monuments Act 1910, c.3- enables the Commissioners of Works to accept the ownership 

 of any " structure, erection or monument of historical or architectural interest or any 

 remains thereof." Two more English Bills on the subject are pending, one of which 

 proposes that all ancient monuments, sites as well as artistic treasures should be put 

 under the protection of Government by being officially scheduled. In the meantime 

 the Union of South Africa has provided for the preservation of Bushman relics in the 

 shape of drawings or paintings on stone: while Spain Has been creating. a " centre " of 

 historical studies for the scientific study of Spanish history. Cyprus has also been pro- 

 tecting its unique classical antiquities. 



Administration of Justice. At the annual meeting in London of the Law Society in 

 1912, the address of the President was chiefly occupied with the decline of British litiga- 

 tion and its causes. Such decline, it should be premised, is confined to the High Court. 

 In the County Court the volume of litigation has increased and is increasing. For the 

 decline in the High Court several Causes are assigned delay, uncertainty, costs; but 

 these are nothing new. For centuries all these causes have been operating as deterrents. 

 The true reason seems rather to be a decline in the litigious spirit of the old times. There 

 is more of a disposition to-day to admit that the rights of the matter are partly on one 

 side and partly on the other, and to compromise them accordingly, instead of fighting 



