Book

The unwritten law in Albania

University PressCambridge • Published In 1954 • Pages:

By: Hasluck, Margaret Masson Hardie, Hutton, J. H. (John Henry).

Abstract
This study of customary law in Albania, based on the authors 13 years of actual residence in that country, represents a unique contribution, particularly in view of the dearth of Albanian ethnographic materials available in English. Although concerned primarily with the tribal laws and legal procedures of the northern Albanian Highlanders, the book sheds considerable light on little known aspects of Albanian life, such as the composition of the Albanian family, family relationships, kinship organizations, the general pattern of village and tribal life, and the functioning of General Assemblies on the tribal and local level. Concepts of property rights and accepted methods for dealing with their violation are discussed in detail, as is the role of oath-taking of compurgators, and of community elders as law-makers and arbiters. The precise conventions regulating the blood-feud, so characteristic of Albanian social inter-relationships, are set forth in great detail. Regional and local variations in custom and law are also shown. The author, whose death in 1948 prevented her from completing the work herself, had training as a folklorist and served after her departure from Albania in 1939 as principal briefing agent for British Intelligence operations into Albania during the war. An appendix of recorded laws and an index are supplied at the end of the book, as is a map showing the geographic distribution of Highland tribes.
Subjects
Legal norms
Household
Kinship terminology
Kin relationships
Status, role, and prestige
Status and treatment of the aged
Trial procedure
Inter-community relations
Real property
Inter-community relations
Tribe and nation
culture
Albanians
HRAF PubDate
2012
Region
Europe
Sub Region
Southeastern Europe
Document Type
Book
Evaluation
Creator Types
Classicist
Linguist
Document Rating
5: Excellent Primary Data
Analyst
Jack Crane ; 1956
Field Date
1926-1939
Coverage Date
1900-1939
Coverage Place
Northern Albania
Notes
By the late Margaret Hasluck. Edited by J. H. Hutton
'Laws passed at General Assemblies (translated from the original Albanian)': p. 261-274.
LCCN
55000191
LCSH
Customary law--Albania
Albania--Social conditions