Customary law on murder cases of the Zeliangrongs
- Part 2 -

Budha Kamei *

A Scene from 'The Zeliangrongs' :: Provided by Director - Ronel Haobam

Ancient people believed that their laws came from the gods; the Cretans, the Lacedaemonians, the Romans and the Etruscans had attributed their laws to Jupiter, Apollo, the goddess Egeria and the god Tages respectively. The laws long did remain holy and even at the time when the vote of a people might make a law, it was still required that at least the consent of religion should be obtained.

Plato said "To obey the laws is to obey the gods." The law was always sacred; in the time of royalty it was the queen of the kings and in the time of republic it was the queen of the people. To disobey it was sacrilege. 12 In principle the law was immutable, since they were divine. The laws were unwritten during long generations; they were handed down from father to son, with the creed and the formula and of prayer.

They were a sacred tradition, which was perpetuated around the family hearth, or the hearth of the city. The day, on which men began to commit them to writing, they consigned them to the sacred books, to rituals, among prayers and ceremonies. Later on the laws were separated from the rituals and were written by themselves. But, the custom of keeping them in a temple continued and priests had the care of them.

These laws were always formulated into very brief sentences, which may be compared in the form to the verses of Levitus or the slocas of the book of Manu. As religious origin of ancient law, it was purely civil; at Athens, for instance, if the stranger (a foreigner domiciled in a city) occurred to be the creditor of a citizen, he could not sue him in the courts for the payment of the debt, as the law did recognize no contract as valid for him.

Logically, law was not born of the idea of justice, but of religion and was not conceived as going further than it. An alien and a citizen might live side by side during long years without a legal relation between them. Law was nothing more than one phase of religion. Where there was no common religion, there was no common law.

In traditional Zeliangrong society, Pei is the religious authority as it controls and regulates the whole religious affairs of the village. Besides, the Pei's elders including the village priest (Taku) are entrusted to perform religious rites and rituals of the village. And they are also the judges of village court (Pei) who try all civil and criminal cases of the village. However, they are supposed to dispense justice under the guidance of the customary laws. This clearly suggests the religious origin of the law.

According to Sir Henry Maine, the penal law of early societies is not the law of crimes. It is the law of wrongs and it could be termed as Torts. Offences which are regarded as crimes are exclusively treated as torts. Theft, assault, violent robbery, libel, slander etc. all gave rise to an obligation and were all required by a payment of compensation. The true criminal law did not however come into existence till the year B.C. 149. The Zeliangrong customary laws are also primitive rules of conduct as they are in operation from the time of ancient memory. The customary law with its primitive origin includes both the law of crimes and civil laws.

The most important function of the Pei is judicial administration. Pei is the highest court of justice of the village; it decides on disputes, all cases based on the aged-old customary laws. In other words, the village council (Pei) "decides matters, disputes and differences between families of same clan or different clans and not settled by the clan or clans' elders" 17 in accordance with customary laws.

Peace, harmony and happiness of the people depend on the proper functioning of the administration of justice. It is executed through the institution of Pei. Peikai Rakaiye means Peikai is the house of god; so they believe they will get justice from the Pei's elders in discharging the judicial functions. The fore-fathers of Zeliangrong did not have much knowledge and idea about laws, rules or regulations, adoption and enforcement; after thorough study of the nature and practices of their social norms and customs, the Zeliangrong customary laws may be divided into laws of civil wrongs and law of crimes.

The distinction between crimes and civil wrongs is roughly that crimes are public wrongs and civil wrongs are private wrongs. The civil law establishes the private rights of people in regard to personal status, property, and contracts; and provides for redress, if such rights are violated, by compelling restitution or compensation. The main civil wrongs consist of breaches of contract; seduction, adultery, and similar offenses against family rights; damage, theft, and similar offenses against property; defamation and other wrongs against reputation etc.

The criminal law treats certain acts, not merely as injures to individual persons, but as offenses harmful to social life generally, and therefore deserving punishment. The crimes include breach of marriage rule, incest, violation of taboo, sorcery and unnatural acts, murder/killing, grievous bodily assault, and similar offenses against the person, dismantling the house, boundary dispute of paddy fields etc.

It must be noted, however, that many civil injuries are on occasion also treated as crimes, the offenders not only being forced to make compensation to his victim, but suffering punishment as well. In other words, the sanction is both restitutive and repressive, giving satisfaction to the victim and inflicting punishment upon the person responsible for the crime.

Moreover, either disobedience of the commands or direct offences against the constituted authority or against the persons in whom that authority rests may be subject to penalty and treated as a crime. When a civil wrong is committed, the victim may, and indeed should first attempt to obtain satisfaction by direct negotiation with the wrongdoer. Only if this fails will he sue him.

All kinds of cases-civil and criminal that crop up within the village are heard and tried in the Peikai in accordance with customary laws. But, some "emergency cases like murder, killing etc. are settled in the household of the murdered. The boundary disputes in respect of paddy fields (Laojam Jang Agaimei), adultery (Nou-Gan Kachumei), murder (Meibairoimei), dismantle the house of another person (Kaidoumei) etc. are termed as serious crime. It is also a crime to call someone as devil (Chagamei) in Zeliangrong society. " 21

The most common punishments are the imposition of a fine. A mithun or buffalo or cow, pig, rice beer, cock etc. are the standard of fines under the Zeliangrong customary laws. Usually, fine or compensation has to be paid by the culprit within the stipulated time fixed by the Pei. Any offender may be punished regardless of sex or social position. Among the Naga and Kuki tribes, the severest punishment is banishment and excommunication.

Capital punishment is unknown. Julian Jacobs writes, fines are the most common penalty among the Nagas, in certain cases the "elders could expel an individual from the Khel or village and for incest, the offenders' houses and property would be destroyed.

To be continued..