ABSTRACT

Law as law was unknown in early Israel. The Hebrew clans had their customs, and the conduct of individual members of these clans was determined by, or in case of violation, judged in accordance with, these customs, the freemen of the clan being the judges. Penalty was as much a matter of custom as was conduct. The judges could not impose arbitrary or unreasonable punishments without endangering the very life of their clan. When, however, custom failed in a specific case, judgment could be rendered and new precedents might be made which in process of time would crystallise into customs. To such an extent was life under the domination of the clan in the time of the vindicators that we hear little of legal matters. It is possible, with a good degree of plausibility, to surmise how individual offenders were dealt with, but we have few specific cases. When we come down to the time of the monarchy we discover a difference when the King as civil head and chief-justice appears; but we have already seen that clan life and clan customs long survived alongside the monarchy. The freemen of septs and of clans, and especially the freemen of cities, had matters of law, so far at least as local affairs were concerned, in their hands. The ancient and fundamental law of the land, we must conclude, originated in the various clans. What this law was we shall have occasion to notice later; it now behooves us to look more closely at other sources or fountains of law than the clan, for these other sources came into greater prominence as the clan organisation decreased in importance, as it did in the days of the monarchy.