CRIMES.
The violations of right are crimes. Some of the crimes recognized by the Wyandots are as follows:
- Adultery.
- Theft.
- Maiming.
- Murder.
- Treason.
- Witchcraft.
A maiden guilty of fornication may be punished by her mother or female guardian, but if the crime is flagrant and repeated, so as to become a matter of general gossip, and the mother fails to correct it, the matter may be taken up by the council women of the gens.
A woman guilty of adultery, for the first offense is punished by having her hair cropped; for repeated offenses her left ear is cut off.
THEFT.
The punishment for theft is twofold restitution. When the prosecutor and prosecuted belong to the same gens, the trial is before the council of the gens, and from it there is no appeal. If the parties involved are of different gentes, the prosecutor, through the head of his household, lays the matter before the council of his own gens; by it the matter is laid before the gentile council of the accused in a formal manner. Thereupon it becomes the duty of the council of the accused to investigate the facts for themselves, and to settle the matter with the council of the plaintiff. Failure thus to do is followed by retaliation in the seizing of any property of the gens which may be found.
MAIMING.
Maiming is compounded, and the method of procedure in prosecution is essentially the same as for theft.