century, blood revenge was still observed. Third
cousins of the murderer and his victim were the limits of responsibility
on either side.[1763]

+552. Development of the philosophy of blood revenge.+ Blood revenge was
nothing but an exercise of revenge and it had all the limitations of
revenge. It produced a rude fear of consequences and had some of the
effects of the administration of justice. However, it had no process of
proof, no due notion of guilt, no means of following up responsibility.
Therefore it could not infuse fear into the hearts of the guilty. It was
entirely irrational. Therefore it ran into extravagance without due
connection of guilt and punishment, and it cost very many lives of the
innocent. In primitive society injuries consist in the invasion of a
man's interests through his property, his wife, and his children, or by
maiming or killing himself. Each one, when he considers himself injured,
tries to redress himself. If he is not able to do it he falls back on
others for aid. The kin group is the only body which has ties of
sympathy and obligation to him. The kin group may be bound to give help
without any regard to the justness of the quarrel, or it gets the
function of a jury. Evidently the latter case is more reasonable and
civilized than the former. In the original institution of blood revenge
the individual was called on to sacrifice himself for others. He was a
bad man if he began an inquiry into the conduct of the man who called
for the sacrifice. He ought to obey the call whether it came from one
who had done right or wrong.[1764] Evidently, in this view, the
institution was a case of social duty, not of goblinistic service to the
dead. It was a further application of rationalism and justice when the
behavior of the deceased was weighed before decreeing blood revenge. If
the kin group decides that the injury is real and that it is properly
called on to interfere, routine of method of investigation will be
developed, rights will be defined, the duty of blood revenge will be
defined and limited, and proceedings of redress will be invented. All
this work is done in the folkways and by the methods of folkways. The
steps lie along the line of advancing civilization. The notion that a
man who had committed a murder and had been killed for it had got what
he deserved is a very recent and civilized notion. That would not keep
his ghost from demanding to be laid by blood atonement. This was the
root