ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE
General principles and various laws.--It is frequently stated by Bisáyas and others that Manóbo justice consists in the oppression of the weak by the strong, but I have not found this to be true. The Manóbo is too independent and too much a lover of revenge to brook coercion. He recognizes a set of customary rules, and any departure from them is resented by himself and by his relatives.
Nearly all violations of rights are considered as civil and not as criminal wrongs, and upon due compensation are condoned. Failure on the part of the offender to make this compensation leads the aggrieved man and his relatives to take justice into their own hands.
The guilty one in nearly every case is allowed a fair and impartial hearing in the presence of his own relatives. The matter is argued out, witnesses are called, and the offender's own relatives generally exert their influence to make him yield with good will. Hence the feast that follows nearly every case of successful arbitration.
One of the fundamental customs of the Manóbos is to regard as a duty the payment of one's debts, and this duty is performed sacredly and often at a sacrifice. Another fundamental custom is the right of revenge. Revenge is a sacred duty that is bequeathed from generation to generation, and from it result the long and terrible feuds that have devastated Manóboland.
Customary law is based on the intense conservation of the Manóbo, fostered by the priests and strengthened by a system of religious injunctions and interdictions. Anyone who violates these taboos or interdictions becomes liable for all evil consequences that may follow.
Property rights are understood and rigidly upheld, so much so that there seems to be no conception of a gift as such. Large tracts of land are considered the property of a clan, but anyone on good terms with the clan may settle on the land and may have all the rights of a clansman except those of fishing. Each individual becomes the temporary owner of the land that he selects and of the crops that he plants thereon. As soon as he abandons the land it becomes the collective property of the clan. Land disputes are unknown.
Property that is the result of one's labor or one's purchase belongs to the individual except in the case of women, children, and slaves. Loss of and damage to property belonging to another must be made good, no excuses being admitted.