49 chapters
10 hour read
Selected Chapters
49 chapters
Preface
Preface
There is no law so strong as custom. How much more universal, willing, and spontaneous is obedience to the customary law that a necktie shall be worn with a stiff collar than is obedience to the ordained law against expectoration on sidewalks; notwithstanding that the latter has more basis in consideration of the public weal and even in aesthetics. This little paper shows how a people having no vestige of constituted authority or government, and therefore living in literal anarchy, dwell in comp
21 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
The Ifugaos
The Ifugaos
Attempts made by Spain to colonize the Ifugao in the lowlands invariably met with failure. The Ifugao is a hillman, and loves his hills. He is of an independent nature and cannot stand confinement. A great many prisoners jailed by American officials have courted death rather than endure incarceration. While there are well defined tribal divisions that mark off the various mountain-Malay populations of northern Luzon, the cultures of all of the tribes are basically similar. Numerous parallelisms,
13 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Sources of Ifugao Law and its Present Status of Development
Sources of Ifugao Law and its Present Status of Development
The word taboo as understood among ourselves, and as most often used among the Ifugaos, denotes a thing rather arbitrarily forbidden. It seems likely that moral laws—from which most criminal laws are an outgrowth—originate thus: the social conscience, learning that some act is antisocial, prohibits it (often in conjunction with religion) or some feature of it, or some semblance of it, arbitrarily, harshly, and sometimes unreasonably. Thus the first taboo set forth above has the semblance of bein
57 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Marriage
Marriage
The trial marriage is merely a primitive sexual mating in the dormitories of the unmarried. It might be called a courtship, it being understood that, except in its very incipiency, Ifugao courtship postulates an accompaniment of sexual intercourse. It is very reprehensible, but not punishable, for a girl to enter into two such unions contemporaneously. The moral code is hardly so strict with respect to the male. In case the two individuals are satisfied with each other, that is, in case they fin
23 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Remarriage of the Widowed
Remarriage of the Widowed
If the widowed be a woman, both she and the man with whom she contracts a second marriage are responsible for the gibu payment. The payment as a matter of practice is always made by the man who marries her; but it is said that, should her second husband for any reason fail to pay, the widow would be held for the payment. In the event of the birth of a bastard child to a surviving spouse, the gibu must be paid. The following is an instance of the non-payment of this indemnity, and the sequelae :
9 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Divorce
Divorce
20. Cases where divorce may be demanded by one party or the other. 21. The hudhud, or payment for mental anguish. —This is the fine or indemnity assessed in cases of divorce at the instance of one of the parties, when uncomplicated by improper sexual relations, on the ground of mental anguish, hakit di nemnem , literally, “hurt of the mind.” In general it may be said to be assessed against that spouse who has made necessary the dissolution of the marriage, whether or not he be the one who takes
10 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Dependents in Relation to Family Law
Dependents in Relation to Family Law
Mention should be made, also, of those who voluntarily entered into slavery as a means of paying a debt. The word “voluntarily” in this connection needs explanation, however. A man was usually frightened into entering into servitude by the probability that if he did not he would be killed. In parts of Ifugao, the killing of women or children in feuds was a disgraceful thing, and rarely, if ever, practiced. Instead they were made prisoners and sold for debt. Sometimes, too, women or children were
3 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Illegitimate Children
Illegitimate Children
30. Duties of parents to children. —The Ifugao family exists principally for the child members of it. The parents are supposed to love, and do love their children more than the children love them. The parents are under the obligation to provide food and clothing for their children, and to impart to them the tribal knowledge that is necessary to a respectable and well regulated Ifugao life. The child may be forced to assist, according to his ability, in the matter of household tasks, work in the
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Reciprocal Obligations of Parents and Their Children
Reciprocal Obligations of Parents and Their Children
The law of primogeniture holds with respect to these obligations. Civil obligations rest more heavily upon the older children and as nearly as possible in proportion to the amounts of property received from the parents. Children who receive no family property contribute very little. One might ask how compliance with these obligations is enforced. Compliance with them is really not enforced. They are the most sacred of all duties. Not to meet them would bring upon one’s self such universal reproa
51 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Family Property
Family Property
The sale of family property is registered by ceremonies in which the near kin of both buyer and seller take part. In comparison with the solemnity of these transfers, our real estate transfers are commonplace. In comparison with their complexity, our transfers are simplicity itself. 38. Definition. —Such articles as knives, spears, dishes, baskets, pots, houses, camote fields, fruit-bearing trees, blankets, animals and articles of minor value, are on the same legal basis as personal property amo
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Personal Property
Personal Property
Tenure is either perpetual or transient. 41. Rice and forest lands. —Rice-land and forest-land tenures are perpetual. In case an owner abandons a rice field for any period of time, however long, and another man takes up the field without interference or contrary order of the true owner, clears it of underbrush, builds up the broken dikes, levels once more the terraces, tills and plants it, the latter has the right to use the field for the same number of years that it was abandoned. At the end of
3 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Perpetual Tenure
Perpetual Tenure
The moving of a landmark is said never to occur, since it would take two or three men to lift the heavy stones, and would require a long time. Moreover it could not be done without leaving plain and indisputable evidence of the crime. 44. Right of way through property owned by others. —In order to get rid of insect pests, clay is sometimes conveyed to a field to form a layer over it about two inches thick. The clay is shovelled into a stream of water above, and carried as silt to the field and t
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Transient Tenure
Transient Tenure
There are two kinds of transfer of family property for “consideration”: the balal (pawn), and outright sale. 46. The balal. —In case a man finds himself under the necessity of raising a considerable sum of money—usually in order to provide funds for a funeral feast or a sacrifice—he frequently borrows the sum, giving a rice field into the hands of his creditor as a security and as a means of paying the interest on debt. The creditor holds, plants, and harvests the field until the debt be repaid.
13 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Transfers of Property for a Consideration
Transfers of Property for a Consideration
Fee of witnesses and agent. This fee is called lukbu , or lagbu (in Benaue dialect). The principal witnesses are preferably the distant kin of the seller, and the agent or agents who effected the sale. The names of the different sticks, knots, or notches are translated literally in the tables diagraming the transactions in purchasing fields. These fees are paid and the presents made to the kin of the seller at a feast called ibuy . This feast is performed whenever the purchase price of the field
23 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Transfers of Property Arising from Family Relationships
Transfers of Property Arising from Family Relationships
( c ) If the number of children be greater than the number of rice fields, the elder children take the fields. If there be but one field, the eldest takes it. ( d ) If all the children inherit rice fields, the heirlooms and personal property are divided in accordance with the laws of primogeniture that apply to real estate. ( e ) If there be children that inherit no rice fields, a slight compensation is made them by giving them a larger share of the heirlooms and personal property than would fal
10 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Settlement of Debts of the Aged and Deceased
Settlement of Debts of the Aged and Deceased
To a far greater proportionate extent is borrowing and lending carried on among the Ifugaos than in our own country. Almost any event that carries with it a large payment or expenditure carries with it as a corollary a large amount of borrowing. The things usually borrowed are death blankets, animals for sacrifice, and rice. 64. Lupe, or interest. —Interest on things borrowed is exceedingly high. But where borrower and lender are brothers, no interest is charged; where they are kin of somewhat r
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Borrowing and Lending
Borrowing and Lending
67. The go-between. —No transaction of importance of any sort between persons of different families is consummated without the intervention of a middle man, or go-between, called monbaga (bespeaker) in civil transactions; and monkalun (admonisher) in criminal cases. Go-betweens are used commonly in ( a ) buying and selling of family property of whatever kind or value; ( b ) buying and selling of animals and the more valuable personal property, except chickens, and in some cases pigs; ( c ) the b
3 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Go-betweens
Go-betweens
69 . Conditions relieving a go-between of responsibility. —An act of God or the acts of a public enemy relieve a go-between or an agent from responsibility. Thus an agent sent to purchase an animal in baliwan (the stranger country) is under obligation to deliver it alive. But if it be struck by lightning, or if the carabao be taken away from him by enemies, and he has a wound to bear witness that he offered due resistance to them; or, in case he has no wound, if he has witnesses or good proof of
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Contracts for the Sale of Property
Contracts for the Sale of Property
In no case can one who makes a contract to buy be held for any payment of damages for breaking his contract. 72. The law as to new fields. —If all the land below a spring or small stream located on ownerless land, be common land—that is, land without an owner—he who makes the first rice field below the source of the water supply is entitled to all the water needed for his rice field. Another man, making a rice field between the field of the first comer and the source of the water supply, may not
3 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Irrigation Law
Irrigation Law
74. The law as to irrigation ditches. —Constructors of an irrigation ditch may sell interest in the ditch. The ditch thus shared with others becomes an equal burden as to upkeep on all the owners. The constructors of an irrigation ditch who have sold part of the water from their ditch, must share the water in time of water scarcity with those to whom they have sold, in proportion to the respective areas of the rice fields. That is, every owner of an irrigation ditch is entitled to a share propor
8 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Penalties
Penalties
For adultery committed after the bango (second ceremony) and before the bubun (final ceremony) For the Wealthy For the Middle Class For the Poor For adultery committed after the bubun (final ceremony) the penalty is doubled for the higher classes, and increased to a fine of “ten” for persons of the lower class. That is, a poor man pays for adultery after the bubun what a middle-class man would pay for adultery before the bubun . For adultery in the aggravated degree known as hokwit (see sec. 94
5 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Circumstances Which Affect Penalty
Circumstances Which Affect Penalty
As between principals and their accomplices and accessories, Ifugao law recognizes only gradations in likelihood of punishment. The penalty is the same for all of them; but very frequently the offense is considered as having been expiated by the punishment of those whose responsibility for it is greatest, and the rest go free. 77. The nungolat, or principal. —The nungolat (he who was strong) is the conceiver, planner, and director of an offense. He may or may not take an active part in its commi
6 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Penal Responsibility
Penal Responsibility
81. Servants who commit crimes at the bidding of their masters. —Retainers incur a lesser degree of criminal responsibility than does the master. They will be punished if the master cannot be punished. Sometimes both are punished. 82. Likelihood of punishment. — (Continuation of illustration given above.) Z’s kinsmen of course decide to avenge his death. It is a general rule that all debts must be paid with liberal interest, the interest being at least equal to the debt. The debt of life is no e
11 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Other Factors Affecting Liability
Other Factors Affecting Liability
Suppose that R, a rich man, commits adultery against P, a poor man. P sends a go-between to demand the highest grade of fine for this crime—that is, the grade which kadangyang pay. R does not deny the crime, but states that he considers the payment of the fine that is due one rich man from another preposterous. He states that he is willing to pay the fine proper to the poorer class. To this P replies that he did not begin this action for the purpose of getting money, but for the purpose of so pu
4 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
The Principal Crimes and their Frequency
The Principal Crimes and their Frequency
91. The ayak (soul-stealing) is a series of religious ceremonies in which the sorcerer calls to a feast the ancestral spirits of some man whose death he desires to encompass, together with many maleficent spirits and deities, and bribes them to bring to him, incarnated as a blue-bottle fly, a dragon fly, or a bee, the soul of the man whose death he desires. When one of the insects mentioned comes to drink of the rice wine in front of the sorcerer, it is imprisoned and put into a bamboo joint tig
6 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Sorcery
Sorcery
A curse, by one who has no reputation for supernatural powers, is punishable by the following fine: A curse by one who had a reputation of being a sorcerer might possibly lead to the death of the sorcerer on the spot. In case he were not killed, and the person or thing cursed died, the death penalty would be inflicted later. The following instances will be of value as illustrations. Some are recent, others historical: Before the coming of the Spaniards, Atiwan of Longa acquired a reputation as a
8 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Adultery
Adultery
Both offenders must pay the fine demanded by the circumstances to the offended party or parties. Thus, if both the offenders be married, each must pay a fine to ( a ) his own offended spouse, and ( b ) to the offended spouse of the partner in the crime. The pu-u of the fine goes to the offended spouse—the rest to the kin of the offended spouse. In addition to paying the fine, should the offender desire to continue the marriage relation with his offended spouse, he must provide animals and other
21 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
The Taking of Life
The Taking of Life
99. Feuds. —A feud is a series of takings of human life as vengeance, in which the heads may or may not be taken. There are some hundreds of ways in which feuds may start. As a rule they begin with a taking of life that is not justified in the eyes of the kin of him whose life was taken. They may begin from a retaliation for a kidnapping or even from an accidental killing. Feuds exist between neighboring districts, or districts not far distant between which to a certain extent ties of blood and
19 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Putting Another in the Position of an Accomplice
Putting Another in the Position of an Accomplice
In case of the death of a kadangyang Honga In case of the death of a middle-class man Honga In case of the death of a poor man Honga One who is put in a position in which a tokom is due him must collect the tokom . It is not sufficient that he demand the payment of it—he must enforce the payment. Otherwise he will be considered by the kin of the injured as having been an accomplice, and liable to punishment accordingly. Should the culprit refuse to pay the tokom , the obligation rests on those t
7 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Theft
Theft
If, however, the accused persistently deny his guilt, he is challenged to an ordeal. If by this he is proven guilty, he is fined one bakid or one “ten”—in Kiangan about thirty pesos—in addition to the payment above. If he refuse to submit to the ordeal, he is adjudged guilty, and has to make the same payments as if he had submitted to the ordeal and had been adjudged guilty. The fee of the monkalun is included in, and is not additional to, the bakid in this case. 112. Theft of unharvested rice.
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Arson
Arson
115. Circumstances under which kidnapping may occur. —If performed to cover a debt for which payment had been repeatedly demanded, or to cover an injury for which a proper fine had been repeatedly demanded in due form, kidnapping was a legal seizure, although the victim and his kindred might not consider it so. But there were a good many cases in which the kidnapper’s motive was utterly different. He might wish, for example, to display his valor, or to profit financially by the sale of his capti
45 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Kidnapping
Kidnapping
116. Rarity of such offenses. —Incest is a very rare crime in Ifugao. It seems to be becoming more frequent, for there has undoubtedly been a growing laxity in morality ever since the establishment of foreign government. A case recently occurred in Mongayan, in which a father, on humane grounds as he put the matter to her, deflowered his own daughter. This case was not punished. 117. Both parties being unmarried. —The unmarried Ifugaos, from earliest childhood, are accustomed to collect in certa
3 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Rape
Rape
It will be noted that the above are very light fines. In some parts of Ifugao they would be considerably higher—notably in the Silipan country. The committing of the crime of rape in broad daylight, as, for example, the “catching” of a woman in a camote field, constitutes an aggravating circumstance. Such a rape as that punishable by a fine of “six” above would be punishable by a fine of “ten” of a value for the three classes respectively of about thirty-two pesos, sixteen pesos, and eight pesos
6 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Ma-hailyu or Minor Offenses
Ma-hailyu or Minor Offenses
The amount of the fine depends to a great extent on the seriousness of the offense of which one is accused. 121. Baag or slander. —This offense is punishable by a somewhat smaller fine than that above. The following is an instance to illustrate what trivial statements may be considered as slanders. At an uyauwe feast Bahni of Tupplak made remarks derogatory to Bumidang of Palao, the principal of which was to the effect that Bumidang would never have been a kadangyang had it not been for the fees
44 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
The Family in Relation to Procedure
The Family in Relation to Procedure
In cases of minor injury, procedure against more distant kin is frowned on, but sometimes occurs. It is the duty of mutual, equally related relatives and kin to try to arrange peace between opposing kin or relatives. In the event of procedure on the part of one kinsman against another, those who are related to both take sides with him to whom they are more closely related. Besides blood relationship, there is marriage relationship oftentimes to make it a very complex and difficult problem for a
5 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
The Monkalun or Go-between
The Monkalun or Go-between
126. Litigants do not confront each other. —From the time at which a controversy is formally entered into, the principals and their kin are on a basis of theoretical—perhaps I ought to say religious—enmity. A great number of taboos keep them apart. Diplomatic relations between the two parties have been broken off and all business pertaining to the case is transacted through the third party, the monkalun . He hears the testimony that each side brings forward to support its contention. Through him
58 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Testimony
Testimony
127. Cases in which employed. —In criminal cases in which the accused persistently denies his guilt, and sometimes in case of disputes over property the ownership of which is doubtful, and in cases of disputes over the division line between fields, ordeals or trials are resorted to. The challenge to an ordeal may come from either the accuser or the accused. Refusal to accept a challenge means a loss of the case, and the challenger proceeds as if he had won the case. If the accused comes unscathe
7 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Ordeals
Ordeals
On the appointed day the two parties meet at the disputed boundary and occupy opposite ends of the disputed land. A party of mutual kin follows along and occupies a position midway between the adversaries. With each party is one of the family priests. Taking betels and dried meat (presuming the contest to be a friendly one) from a head-basket, the priest prays very much as follows: “Come, Grandfather Eagle, Grandfather Red Ant, Grandfather Strong “Wind, Grandfather Pangalina; come, Grandmother C
20 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Execution of Justice
Execution of Justice
A seizure may be made by fraud or deceit, or it may be made in the absence of the owner of his household, or it may be made by superior force. Considering only the manner of the seizure, there is but one law to be followed: the seizure must be made in such a manner as to leave no doubt as to the identity of him who seizes. Thus if B persistently refuses to pay a fine owed to A, A may go to B’s house when there is nobody at home and may run away with a gong. If he leaves his bolo, his scabbard, h
22 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
The Paowa or Truce
The Paowa or Truce
141. The hidit or religious aspects of peace-making. —The word hidit has three senses: It refers to a class of deities, the offspring of one of the principal deities of war; it refers to sacrifices to these deities; it refers to peace-making. Deities, sacrifice, and peace may seem widely distinct, but a glance into the Ifugao’s religion will show the connection. The hidit (deities) desire peace: but the peace must be made in the proper manner, and accompanied by sacrifice to themselves. The hidi
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Termination of Controversies: Peace-making
Termination of Controversies: Peace-making
In most parts—I believe all—of Ifugao, peace was never made between districts or villages . Peace was always made between families ; but peace between the principal families of two villages or districts was sometimes in effect a peace between the districts or villages involved—I say sometimes because such a peace was uncertain and undependable. When peace was made between families of different districts, or between families of the same district in cases of serious controversy, two men were chose
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
An Inter-village Law
An Inter-village Law
1 Thus A and B, two brothers, are members of the same family until they marry. After marriage A’s family consists of his blood kin and of his relatives by marriage, and the same holds of B’s family. Thus after marriage only half the individuals of the families of the two brothers are identical. The families of two cousins are identical as to one-half the component individuals before their marriage and as to one-fourth of the component individuals after their marriage. 2 The word monkalun comes f
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Appendix 1: Ifugao Reckoning of Relationship
Appendix 1: Ifugao Reckoning of Relationship
9. The kin of the father or mother of his wife are tulang di ama (or ina ) ’n di inay-ak (kin of the father, or mother, of my wife). In the Benaue district, the kin of one’s father or mother, in addition to being called father or mother, are also called ulitao (uncle or aunt), and the husbands or wives of the ulitao are called ulitaon (uncles-in-law, aunts-in-law). The son or daughter of a kinsman or a kinswoman of the same generation in addition to being called son or daughter of one’s self is
24 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Appendix 2: Connection of Religion with Procedure
Appendix 2: Connection of Religion with Procedure
The Crocodile chuckled. “Oh, I will not devour you, Bugan,” he said. “I would shame to devour one so beautiful. Continue on eastward, and arrive at the dwelling of the Shark. Wake him up, in order that he shall be the one to devour you.” Bugan thought well of it. She put her pack on her head. She went on eastward and came to the waters where dwells the Shark. It was fear-inspiring, and caused her to exclaim “ Inay! ” She was terrified, but she conquered her fear. She reached for betels, and thre
26 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Appendix 3: Parricide
Appendix 3: Parricide
The Kalingas are a tribe having a culture remarkably similar to the Ifugao. In respect of warfare, head-hunting, and social organization, it is an even more dazzling example of a barbarian culture, I believe. Concubinage is universally practiced by the wealthy. The concubine has a legal status. A man must secure his wife’s consent to take a concubine, but the consent is universally forthcoming. During a six months’ residence in Kalinga I became quite well acquainted with the unusually intelligen
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Appendix 4: Concubinage among the Kalingas
Appendix 4: Concubinage among the Kalingas
A strong healthy Kalinga chief has usually two, often more concubines. He gives them rather limited material support: now and then a suckling pig to rear, a little rice to help out the year, work at good wages, yarn to keep them busy at the loom, a little capital for trading trips, and the like. He may help them a great deal, but they rarely cost him much. As indicated above, their children have no inheritance rights. 1 Myths relate how the Full-Grown Cock overcame the Half-Grown Cock, how the C
12 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Glossary1
Glossary1
amaon , aunt’s husband, etc. (see Appendix 1 ). anak , son or daughter (see Appendix 1 ). apo , grandparent (see Appendix 1 ). *areca , a slender graceful palm which produces the areca nut, erroneously called the betel-nut, which, with the leaf of the betel pepper and lime, are universally chewed by the Ifugaos. The physiologic effect is similar to that of coffee. ayak , sorcery. baag , facetious or uncalled-for remarks. baal , a hand servant; a household servant. bakid , a “ten”; a half-score.
9 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Plates
Plates
A Negrito shack Often a Negrito’s dwelling is the merest mockery of a house. This is an unusually good one, since it has a thatched roof. Often the roof is no more than a few curled banana leaves and the dwelling without walls of any kind. At the side of the door are seen two or three bows. The Negrito puts into making his bow and arrows all the pains that he neglects to put into the construction of his house. Pure-blood Negrito and American The height of the American is 5 feet 9½ inches. Many o
11 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
Corrections
Corrections
The following corrections have been applied to the text:...
3 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter