The Organizing Principles of Aboriginal Justice - Archive ouverte HAL
Article Dans Une Revue Droit et Cultures Année : 2022

The Organizing Principles of Aboriginal Justice

Résumé

The various procedures that constitute the repertoire of traditional Australian Aboriginal justice can be organized, on the formal level, around three characters, that is: symmetry, mode of designation and moderation. All three criteria correspond to social dimensions. Asymmetry expresses guilt, while symmetry expresses a situation where it has not been acknowledged. The mode of designation reflects both the individual or collective nature of the accused party and the willingness, if necessary, to circumscribe the effects of the legal proceedings. Moderation, finally, highlights a general principle of Australian law, that of modulation: according to it, the theoretically strict compensation for damages (“an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”) is either lightened – in particular, towards a moderate procedure – or, on the contrary, aggravated, depending on the social relations prevailing between both parties. This approach also makes it possible to understand how war, which in Australia is mainly, if not exclusively, of a judicial nature, derives from the feud, of which it is an unbridled modality.

Dates et versions

hal-04437680 , version 1 (04-02-2024)

Identifiants

Citer

Christophe Darmangeat. The Organizing Principles of Aboriginal Justice. Droit et Cultures, 2022, 1 (83), ⟨10.4000/droitcultures.8280⟩. ⟨hal-04437680⟩
19 Consultations
0 Téléchargements

Altmetric

Partager

More