Primitive man's law

Author: (American) E. Adamson Hoebel, translated by Yan Cunsheng et al.
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2006-05-01
Features: E. Adamson Hoebel (1906–1993) received his Ph.D. in philosophy from Columbia University in 1934. He later served as a professor and department head of anthropology at the University of Utah, a professor of anthropology at the University of Michigan, and an honorary professor of the Department of Anthropology at the University of Minnesota—Minneapolis Campus. He held positions such as president of the American Ethnological Society and president of the American Anthropological Association. He authored works such as The Cheyenne Way (The Cheyenne May), Man in the Primitive World, Adat Law in Indonesia, and The Comanches. The Law of Primitive Man is his representative work in this field. Published in 1954, the book quickly attracted attention due to its detailed materials and profound insights. It has been reprinted multiple times and highly praised by many scholars. As one said: "This book is of high quality in every aspect, effectively solving many difficult problems in law and other sciences. Its sociological significance is broad, and its technical adaptability is not limited to primitive legal systems but also applies to general social relationships." Some even believed: "This book will undoubtedly become a textbook for future generations of sociocultural anthropologists and law students studying primitive law." Hoebel's The Law of Primitive Man is undoubtedly a valuable book. Of course, as a bourgeois scholar, many of Hoebel's arguments inevitably carry class biases and limitations. For example, he did not explore the origin and development of law from the perspective of the fundamental contradictions of society; in his understanding of law, he overemphasized the role of force and blurred the boundaries between the state and other forms of power, thereby calling all social norms backed by force "law" and concluding that primitive societies had law. These points should be noted when reading.