primitive law

is the idea that the savage is neither lawless nor a slave to custom, but, like western society, is a mixed bag of adhering to and breaking prohibitions and positive obligations.

The centre of Malinowski's attack is upon the sovereign reign of custom in primitive society. His thesis is that the early tendency to regard the savage as lawless has been succeeded by a contrary tendency to regard him as the automatic slave,of custom. This 'dogma of the automatic submission to custom' assumes that the savage never seeks to break forth from his chains. Moreover, to the savage his customs are undifferentiated,all equally obligatory and inescapable. The 'cake of custom' is unbroken -an 'amorphous mass of tribal usage.' Thus the savage is supposed to be unable to recognize personal and individual rights but to live in a state of primitive communism. Second only to the dogma of automatic submission to custom is the dogma of the unity of the clan, the only reality of primitive society, the only bearer of rights and duties. (review).

is the study of the various forces which make for order, uniformity and cohesion in a savage tribe.

the study of the various forces which make for order, uniformity and cohesion in a savage tribe.

primitive law, n.Definitions

primitive law