56
idea of a blood-price is not foreign to native customary law in other parts of the Eastern Archipelago, this method of settlement seems to have been introduced into Acheh through the medium of Islam,—though not without modifications.
It is not necessary here to go into the rules of Mohammedan law in respect of the jus talionis and blood-money. It need only be borne in mind that in case of wilful murder or hurt, the Moslim law gives the right of retributive vengeance to none but the heir of the victim or (in case of hurt) to the wounded man himself. The execution of this vengeance is made subject to the supervision of the public authorities. At the same time the injured party is left free, nay in many cases advised to content himself with the blood-price fixed by law instead of exacting a personal vengeance.
In Acheh however it has remained an etablished rule that blood-feuds are decided without any interference on the part of the territorial authorities, simply under the direction of the panglimas of the kawōm, who are tribal and not territorial chiefs. Exceptions occur now and then through the authority of some unusually energetic ulèëbalang or unusually influential ulama. Here again we find all the members of a kawōm jointly and severally liable as concerns bila, so that a blood-feud may keep two clans for years in a state of mutual hostility[1]. Should, however, the influence of the panglima kawōm or the pressure of the higher powers be able to prevent the feud and induce the injured party to accept blood-money, then the guilty party, who is in most cases unable to make up the required sum[2], considers himself more or less entitled to demand contributions from all his well-to-do fellow-tribesmen, or if he belongs to one of the three allied kawōms, from all the members of these three tribes. Thus the highland blood-debtor, to whom a period of one or two years is granted for paying off the diët, goes on a journey "to collect subscriptions" (chò ripè). Such debtors often come down into the lowlands and apply for contributions to those of whose connection with their tribe the recol-
- ↑ In the highlands also vengeance for blood is more under the control of the adat than of Mohammedan law. Where the guilty party cannot be pointed out with certainty, but where it is known to what family he belongs, the injured party is entitled to take his revenge by slaying or wounding one member of the family. Vengeance for blood also extends to the auctor intellectualis who has for example bribed or instigated others to commit the deed.
- ↑ The ordinary blood-money for causing death in Acheh is 500 Spanish (Mexican) dollars.
