Virginia Boucher

Cindy Rouzer

Soc1DE1

Las Positas College

26 May, 2006

Law

Kapu and Crime

      As mentioned in the section about religion, making a delineation between law and religion is difficult since both authorities tend to make rules about individual behavior.  In the old Hawaiian culture, kapu (forbidden or sacred) was the system of law.  Something could be declared kapu by a kahuna or by a chief or other royal.

The Kapu System is what cemented the ancient social structure.  The word, known in English as "taboo" meant sacred or prohibited.  Violators were swiftly punished by being strangled or clubbed to death.  A commoner had to be careful lest his shadow fall across the person of a high chief, and he had to be quick to kneel or lie down in the presence of such sacred persons.  Birth, death, faulty behavior, the building of a canoe, and many other activities were regulated by the kapu system, which permeated all aspects of ancient Hawaiian life. (Roots, http://www.hawaiian-roots.com/earlyhawaii.htm)

Some of the types of things that could be kapu might include things that were universally forbidden, like women eating with the men, or when a certain action was forbidden for a set period of time, such as hunting in an area or a particularly nice canoe launching point being off limits to any but a particular chief.  The breaking of a kapu was regarded as a very serious breach of law.  

The specific point where the kapu system began to fail coincided with the arrival of the missionaries.  There was a certain Hawaiian royal who dined regularly with his wife at his side.  This kapu being flaunted by the ruler was seen by his subjects as a sign that no kapu observance was to be strictly enforced.  Soon many people ignored the kapu laws and the structure for the order of law began to fail.  It was at about this same time the missionaries arrived with their religious laws to fill the gap.

From a Conflict perspective, the arrival of the missionaries signified the arrival of a new ruling class.  The missionaries gained control of much land and a large following of the faithful to spread their power base.

From a Functional perspective, the missionaries brought in their moral law to provide the balance and structure that was missing since the demise of kapu.

From the Interactionist perspective, the strength of the symbols of office (the robes and crosses), the offering of sanctity and salvation, and the education offered to the people show the missionaries became the source of moral guidance and law in the eyes of the people.