Legal operation behavior

Author: Donald J. Black (USA), translated by Tang Yue and others
Translator: Tang Yue Su Li / Country:
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-01-01
Features: The excerpt also makes people (detach from law) but at the other extreme, it is people living in different worlds, their distance is even greater than that between strangers. This distant relationship is a typical example of people living in different cultures, tribes, or countries, but it is not necessarily so. For example, among the Basserat people in southern Persia, both nomadic and settled lifestyles coexist—nomadic and sedentary. Although they share a common language, religion, and many customs, because the herds are always on the move, the nomadic necessity completely separates the nomads from the farmers. Conflicts between herders and farmers may occur—such as when nomadic livestock trample farmers' crops—but this is a conflict in a social vacuum, a conflict between people without a common social system. Therefore, although there is law within the nomads and among the farmers, there is none between them: when disputes arise between nomads and farmers, the contact between the conflicting parties does not last long; the differences in their lifestyles exclude all activities usually associated with mediation and dispute resolution. If they resolve it themselves, they can mobilize all members of their respective communities to fight—a fortified village in southern Fars proves that this method was once frequently used, and it is occasionally used even today [Barth, 1961: 79, also see 74, 78]. Even in some traditional societies, there may be different worlds, with people completely independent of each other, rarely meeting, and having no interaction. This may exist between different ethnic groups, but it can also manifest in other ways. For example, in the remote Libaba village in Lebanon, the lives of two large families are almost completely separated: since people can remember, Libaba village has been divided into two opposing factions based on family alliances—one led by Akos and the other by Abraham. Each faction (except for isolated cases of elopement) marries within its own group. All entertainment activities, political activities, and periodic family or other life activities are structured according to this dual division [Nader, 1965: 395]. Due to the great distance between these two parts and the almost complete lack of distance within each part, the absence of law in Libaba is not surprising; in fact, it also has no police or courts (see Nader, 1965: 395). In terms of the distance between these two parts, it is somewhat similar to the relationship between hostile tribes or sub-tribes, and it is also somewhat similar to international relations (see Hoebel, 1954: 331; Barkun, 1968: 118, 121, 122). A region where its various parts rarely interact may have long-standing feuds or wars, but it is unlikely to have much law (see Colson, 1953; Nader, 1965: 398, 399). However, as relationships change over time, with years, months, and days, the social control of these relationships also changes. Completely separated people may meet, or a couple today may break up tomorrow, and when these things happen, law may become a possibility in their lives (see Start, 1974: 17–19).