OF THE BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY. LIX 



in and kills both animals. It seems probable that the destruc- 

 tion of property the ownership of which is in dispute is com- 

 mon to all tribes. 



A second method of ending controversy is by the arbitra- 

 ment of personal conflict For example : if two persons disagree 

 and come to blows (unless the conflict end in the maiming or 

 killing of one of the parties), it is considered a final settlement, 

 and they cannot thereafter appeal to their clans for justice. By 

 conflict a controversy is barred. This law seems to be uni- 

 versal. 



The third method of terminating controversy is by the estab- 

 lishment of some day of festival — sometimes once a month, but 

 usually once a year — beyond which crimes do not pass. The 

 day of jubilee is a day of forgiveness. The working of this 

 principle might be illustrated in many ways. 



Law begins in savagery through the endeavor to secure 

 peace, and develops in the highest civilization into the en- 

 deavor to establish justice. 



Society is organized for the regulation of conduct, and con- 

 duct is regulated by law in the several stages of human progress 

 in relation to those particulars about which serious disagree- 

 ment arises. In the early history of mankind it appears, from 

 all that we may now know of the matter, that the most serious 

 and frequent disagreements arose out of the relations of the 

 sexes. Men disagreed about women, and women about men. 

 Early law, therefore, deals to a large extent with the relations 

 of the sexes. The savage legislator sought to avoid contro- 

 versy by regulating marital relations ; and this he did by deny- 

 ing to the individual the right of choice, and providing that 

 certain groups of men should take their wives from certain 

 groups of women, and, further, that the selection of the woman 

 should not be given to the man, nor the selection of the man 

 to the woman, but that certain officers or elder persons should 

 make the marriage contract. This method of selection is here 

 called legal appointment. 



Now, selection by legal appointment exists among all North 

 American tribes, and elsewhere among savages in Australia 

 and other portions of the globe; it exists in diverse forms, 



