Synopses & Reviews
The Cheyenne Indians, in sharp contrast to other Plains tribes, are renowned
for the clear sense of form and structure in their institutions. This cultural trait, together with the colorful background of the Cheyennes, attracted the unique collaboration of a legal theorist and an anthropologist, who, in this volume, provide a definitive picture of the law-ways of a primitive, nonliterate people.
This foundational study of primitive law presents the folkways in law of the
Cheyennes through the technique of the American case lawyer, adjusted to the
requirements of the anthropologist with his scientific understanding of human
behavior and realistic sociology. Particularly appealing to the general reader are the law cases themselves. Based on individual episodes that reflect the legal procedure of the Cheyennes over a period of more than sixty years, the cases are heroic narratives in the finest tradition.
Review
"Planned and executed upon a novel and striking pattern...this book
appeals to the lawyer, the sociologist and the collector of Indian lore, as well as to the general reader." New York Times Book Review
Review
"Here is pioneering in the Sociology of the Law....The cases themselves are so beautifully alive that an elementary school child will forget to go to sleep reading them; so will the adult." Columbia Law Review
Review
"Llewellyn and Hoebel have made a brilliant contribution....not only to social anthropology and the sociology of law but to social science at large." Yale Lain Journal
Synopsis
The Cheyenne Indians, in sharp contrast to other Plains tribes, are renowned for the clear sense of form and structure in their institutions. This cultural trait, together with the colorful background of the Cheyennes, attracted the unique collaboration of a legal theorist and an anthropologist, who, in this volume, provide a definitive picture of the law-ways of a primitive, nonliterate people.
About the Author
Karl N. Llewellyn taught for over thirty years in the law schools of Yale, Columbia (where he was Betts Professor of Jurisprudence), and the University of
Chicago. He was a leader in deep and realistic study of the institution of law,
especially in relation to other behavioral fields. E. Adamson Hoebel is Emeritus Professor of Anthropology in the University of Minnesota. He has had many opportunities to observe Indian tribes, including the Cheyennes, Comanches, and Shoshones. Besides this book and others, he is coauthor of The Comanches: Lords of the South Plains.