Book
The political organization and law-ways of the Comanche Indians
American Anthropological Association • (54 ; 4) • Published In 1940 • Pages: 149
By: Hoebel, E. Adamson (Edward Adamson).
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This is a descriptive study of law of the Comanche Indians of the southern Plains. Since the Comanche had no concept of law as an institution, or even as a set of rules, Hoebel used the case-history method to delineate the legal norms, unformalized by the Comanche. As a basis for comparison he uses the definition: 'A social norm is legal if its neglect or infraction is met by the application, in threat or in fact, of the absolute coercive force /violence/ by a social unit possessing the socially recognized privilege of so acting.' In giving a background for his study, Hoebel discusses tribal organization and its economic base, the peace chief, war and war leadership, and associations and their governmental role. In the actual cases, he discusses adultery and wife stealing, homicide, criminal offenses, ritual and evidence, abnormal conduct (e.g., rape and suicide), and property, inheritance and contract. In an appendix, he provides comparative notes on Shoshonean law-ways. Bibliographical references are given in footnotes throughout. Hoebel wasa Professor of Anthropology at the University of Minnesota.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Legal norms
- Territorial hierarchy
- Offenses and sanctions
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Comanche
- 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
- Plains and Plateau
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- Book
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Ethnologist
- 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.
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- Timothy J. O'Leary ; 1958
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1933
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1930-1940
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- southwestern United States
- NotesAdditional notes
- E. Adamson Hoebel
- At head of title: Supplement to American anthropologist, vol. 42, no. 3, pt. 2.
- Issued also as thesis (Ph. D.) Columbia University
- Includes bibliographical references
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 41008503
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Comanche Indians