I tions which outline the rights and duties of the individual and the community.

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1 PUBLIC OPINION AND MUTUAL ASSISTANCE AMONG THE MONTAGNAIS-NASKAPI By JULIUS E. LIPS N most modern states law and order are embodied in written constitu- I tions which outline the rights and duties of the individual and the community. From time to time a change may be made in any given constitution in an effort to make it conform to an urgent current need, but the existence of a written constitution and a written body of law remain ponderables which act as strong bulwarks against tendencies toward a change. It is generally assumed that an unwritten constitution may be better adapted to the changing conditions of life than a written or so-called rigid constitution. That this may be true without in any way lessening the force of law can be seen in primitive communities where life is guided not by a written constitution or even by a set of statutes but by public opinion. In primitive communities public opinion is in effect both the constitution and the law. The legal institutions of the Montagnais-Naskapi Indians in Labrador are set down neither in a constitution nor a written law; yet every phase of their lives is regulated as definitely as in the white man s country. They have their supreme, if unwritten, law with its demands for their particular brand of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. But it would be futile to go about, textbook in hand, seeking an equivalent for the abstract legal terms of the white man s law. The same holds true for the rules of international law, where the theory of the enforcement of law is still in dispute and doubt. For the Montagnais-Naskapi the maintenance of the peace of the community is fundamental, and they have various ways of enforcing peace. The strongest preventive against violation of the peace is public opinion. Although this is not formed by newspapers and printer s ink, it binds the individuals more closely to the community than in the civilized world. It is not public authority which keeps the band together, nor the chieftaincy, which appears rarely if at all. It is tradition, custom, and public opinion. The economic situation has prevented class distinctions and variations in the accumulation of wealth. Here we have a single-class community, in contrast to the civilized world with its multiple classes-and public opinion has a totalitarian meaning, in contrast to!he artificial and class-imposed totalitarianism of the modern community. The century-old traditions and ancestral rights, fused with the later 1 During the summer of 1935 the author investigated economics and law among the Montagnais-Naskapi Indians of Labrador Peninsula on behalf of Columbia University. 222

LIPS] MONTAGNAIS-NASKA PI 223 changes brought by the white man, are the basis of public opinion. It is in the summer meeting places that public opinion is particularly strong.

2 LIPS] MONTAGNAIS-NASKA PI 223 changes brought by the white man, are the basis of public opinion. It is in the summer meeting places that public opinion is particularly strong. The many experiences of life in the woods and all occurrences relating to rights are discussed and considered in these meeting places, and differences are usually adjusted through settlement by neutral parties. Public opinion lies dormant during the winter months, as the various families are separated by scores of miles and are dependent solely upon themselves. The settling of quarrels or differences is postponed until the following spring when the tribe gathers again at the traditional places for the purpose of selling furs to the Hudson s Bay Company. Public opinion is a powerful force here, because the Indian cannot leave his tribe and lose himself in some other community as the white man often does when he moves to another city or state, The Indian cannot give up his hunting grounds, and should he attempt to escape unfavorable public opinion, he would starve. In these woods where the individual must turn to neighbors in time of need, as in the case of sickness, bad hunting luck, or unfavorable weather conditions, not only the security of his possessions but his very life depends on the attitude of the community towards the individual. Public opinion also asserts itself when the peace of the community has been violated. This comes about slowly, however, and only when the peace of the community rather than that of the individual or family is disturbed. But even in that event public opinion must be prompted by the interested party. It is not the occasional trap thief, trespasser; or tent burner, but the habitual peace breaker, the constant trouble maker, who is punished by the community with expulsion. But once the community acts, he is outlawed and abandoned to starvation. In this way public opinion can enforce law, by active or passive means. Its principal effect is, however, the prevention of legal infractions. It is preventive rather than punitive. Even in cases where there is no binding legal obligation, i.e., in cases where infractions against public opinion are not punished immediately, public opinion enforces the law. It would be erroneous to assume that no law exists because it is not enforced by an organized public authority or because an infraction of legal norms is not punished. Enforcement of the law or the administration of justice by public opinion is accomplished indirectly but effectively. One of the important fields regulated by public opinion is mutual assistance. The rules of mutual assistance pervade the customary law of the Indians, running through their laws of obligations, their family law, and their criminal and commercial laws. It is noteworthy that these laws of

3 224 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [N. S., 39, 1937 mutual assistance have the greatest effect in case of immediate danger of life or of starvation. In such cases they have full priority even over legal norms which under ordinary circumstances are sacrosanct. To mention a few examples: The hunting and trapping rights of one s own hunting ground, anxiously guarded normally, may be broken if the stranger passing the territory is in need of food. In that case he may do sufficient trapping and hunting to provide for immediate needs, without, however, having the right to gather meat or furs in order to sell them. The travelling Indian, too, may catch as many animals as he needs to still his hunger while in the territory. Even the beaver, that most treasured animal, the shooting or capture of which is reserved for those entitled to hunt on the grounds, may be killed by a stranger in need. In such cases he may even kill all the occupants of a. beaver house which has been marked by its owner. For if the Indian discovers a beaver house he marks a near-by tree, thereby notifying all passersby as well as his own adult sons and hunting comrades that the beavers belong to him. This property right is thus respected even within the family; it represents perhaps the most respected property right even in our sense of the term. Nevertheless this rule may be broken by any one who is really in need. If a person suffering from hunger arrives at the food depot of another Indian, he has the right to take one-half of the provisions without asking the permission of the owner and without paying anything. The owner cannot demand a consideration-even though public opinion requires the subsequent return to the owner of all that was taken, and even more, as soon as the man is able to do so. The effect of public opinion on mutual assistance may be illustrated by a further example which is very important for the whole problem. In cases of illness, accident, or famine, the Indian sets up signs calling for help, each of which has a very definite meaning. It is a signal system understood by every Indian and used only in the case of extreme need. When such a sign has been erected its purpose is not to turn to whom it may concern but to advise that everybody is concerned. There are two different kinds of signal posts: one signifies illness or accident, the other hunger and starvation. Both can be combined, since hunger and illness often occur simultaneously. In such a contingency a post, about two yards high, is set in the snow on the border of the hunting ground or on an Indian path, wherever one would expect a neighbor or others to pass by. The pointed tip of the post points in the direction of the tent of the man asking for help. At the upper third the post is carved all around; the deeper

4 LIPS] MONTAGNA IS-NASKAPI 225 the groove the greater is the illness and need, and the assistance required (fig. 1: nos. 1 and 2). The distance of the person seeking aid from the place of the signal post is marked by a second post, set vertically in the ground. If the distance is small, the vertical post is set close to the end of the signal post sticking in the snow (la). If the person asking for help is farther away, the vertical post is set in the snow at a greater distance from the lower end of the signal post (lb). If days trips are to be indicated, one uses at times two or three vertical posts (2) each of which signifies a day s trip, and the sign is repeated along the way to the tent, the number of posts (indicating a day s travel) being diminished with the decrease of the distance. The signal post for hunger and starvation has the same form and is set in the same way as the sign indicating illness or accident. Only in that case the groove is made in the form of an hour-glass (3) and by its depth it indicates the degree of famine and need for help. If the person or his family seeking aid is not only hungry but also ill, combined signal posts are set up in a parallel direction (4). Hence Number 4 would have to be interpreted as follows: We, the tent community living in the direction of the signal posts, are about a day s trip from here. We are very sick and near starvation. [Note the deep notches on both signal posts.] We call every one passing by, who sees these posts, to bring immediate aid. How does the single individual or the outer world react to this call for help? As the posts have not been set up randomly, but, in order to reach the outside world as quickly as possible, on well known travelling routes of the Indians or on the trap path of a neighbor, aid arrives in time as a rule. The neighbor or any passer-by, noticing this call for help, will rush as soon as possible to the tent of the sufferer. In most cases, however, this cannot be done at once, as the helper may not be prepared for the emergency. He may be on the way to his traps with only enough food for himself. In any event, if unable to help immediately, he will inform the caller for aid that he has seen the sign and that he is willing to bring help. This is done in the following way: He may make a notch with his axe on the vertical post (5) which signifies: I have read your message and I will bring aid, or he may tear off a branch, fold it into a ring and hang it on the signal post. Instead of the branch he may hang a leather or cloth knot on the signal, according to what he happens to have on hand. Generally such a ring means the same as a notch, but it indicates further details. The smaller the ring, the sooner the helper will return (6): if the ring on the other hand is very large (7), it means that it will take a long time until assistance can be given. Often the

5 226 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [N. S., 39, 1937 FIG. 1. Montagnais-Naskapi signal posts indicating the need of assistance.

LIPS] MONTAGNA IS-NASKA PI 227 person who has seen the signal must first return to his own tent, far away, in order to get provisions and other means of aid, before he can set out on the mission.

6 LIPS] MONTAGNA IS-NASKA PI 227 person who has seen the signal must first return to his own tent, far away, in order to get provisions and other means of aid, before he can set out on the mission. In any case, every Indian who has seen such a signal of distress will inform not only the person calling for help but all other passers-by of his intended assistance by means of a ring or notch. When the assistance has been rendered the signal posts are destroyed so as not to mislead those who pass by later. It may happen sometimes that the helper arrives after the suffering individual or family has died. In that event the signal post is not destroyed. The notch of its upper end is blackened with soot (8), or a blackened piece of wood (9), often in the form of a cross, is suspended on the post. It is possible also to convey the death message by blackening one side of a piece of birch bark. In order to protect it against dampness it is folded and inserted in the notch of the signal post. Upon seeing this death message every passer-by is informed that his assistance is too late and that somewhere deep in the woods a person or family died of illness or starvation. All these signs are erected only in the case of extreme need, and Indians have told me that people to whose aid they had gone in response to such signals looked terrible and were close to death. This aspect of the law indicates the defensive character that pervades all branches of this culture. In response to these signals every one passing by must and will help. No instance is known where assistance has ever been refused; and the erection of such signals occurs very often in the vast woods of Labrador. Even the most hated neighbor or the most bitter enemy, who perhaps a year before had destroyed and pilfered one s own traps, must and will be assisted. What then compels the Indian to stand by his hated personal enemy, instead of enjoying his misfortune? The answer is: public opinion. Other explanations might be given. Thus, if one asks an Indian why, in such a case, they assist even a hated personal enemy, he will answer: If we didn t do it we would have bad hunting luck and the following morning the Man of the North might order his wind to cover the game tracks with snow. However, the strongest motive prompting them to give positive assistance is the realization that in case they refuse to assist they too might be refused needed assistance-for, if a case should become known where an Indian maliciously disregarded a signal erected in extreme need, he would likewise be disregarded in case of his own need. All this shows that the enforcement of law in earlier cultures was not in the form of positive acts but in the threat of passive conduct. It is erroneous to contend that, in cases where a law is not enforced by positive

228 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST * [N. s., 39, 1937 rules and the systematic application of the force of politically organized society (Roscoe Pound), we cannot consider it a law.

7 228 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST * [N. s., 39, 1937 rules and the systematic application of the force of politically organized society (Roscoe Pound), we cannot consider it a law. For, in this instance, public opinion enforces by negative and passive means the positive act of the individual. In any event the fear of retaliation is sufficiently strong to compel observance of the legal norms within the community. However, this unwritten constitution of the Indians is by no means rigid, but is regulated by changing conditions. As a result of the dealings with the Hudson s Bay Company, for example, entirely new and definite rules were developed, sanctioned by public opinion and embodied in a new law merchant and law of contracts. It is clearly evident that rights and rules of law are strongly influenced and altered by economic conditions, that we cannot find one rigid and eternal law in any people, and that there is no unified and generally applicable feeling of justice in humanity. COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY NEW YORK CITY

Province of Alberta RAILWAY (ALBERTA) ACT RAILWAY REGULATION. Alberta Regulation 177/2002

Province of Alberta RAILWAY (ALBERTA) ACT RAILWAY REGULATION Alberta Regulation 177/2002 With amendments up to and including Alberta Regulation 132/2017 Office Consolidation Published by Alberta Queen