Book
A law of blood: the primitive law of the Cherokee nation
New York University Press • New York • Published In 1970 • Pages:
By: Reid, John Phillip.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This is the first volume in a projected complete legal history of the Cherokee. It is concerned with the Cherokee system of law and government in the historic period prior to the 19th century. The subject coverage of this document is extensive, ranging from discussions of international law and relations to town government and the informal mechanisms of social control and justice at the local level. In addition, the first two chapters provide a discussion of Cherokee cultural geography during the early historic period and the entire monograph provides information on the incidence, character and consequences of European contact. Users are cautioned to read carefully the information from this document since the material is made confusing by the author's approach to the subject matter. For one, the author constantly attempts to force Cherokee customs, behavior and values into 20th century Western legal concepts and categories. In addition, the entire work is a running commentary on the author's source materials, so that locating useful ethnohistorical information on the marked file pages is often tedious. At a more general level, the entire discussion of Cherokee law is couched in ethnocentrism that at times borders on outright racism.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Form and rules of government
- Community heads
- Clans
- Informal in-group justice
- Offenses against life
- Manipulative mobility
- Kin relationships
- Incorporeal property
- Inheritance
- External relations
- Instigation of war
- Acculturation and culture contact
- Sociocultural trends
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Cherokee
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2000
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- North America
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Eastern Woodlands
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- Book
- Evaluation
- Creator TypesThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Ethnologist
- Historian
- Lawyer
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 4: Excellent Secondary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- John Beierle ; 1987
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- no date
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1700-1800
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- southeastern United States
- NotesAdditional notes
- John Phillip Reid
- Although nearly all of the material in this document predates the historical cut-off date of the Cherokee collection, OCM 175 'HISTORY' is not used.
- Includes bibliographical references
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 72090901
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Cherokee Indians