The Rule of Law

Hezel, Francis X. (2001-12-14). [www.micsem.org The Rule of Law]. Micronesian Counselor (Report). Kolonia, Pohnpei: Micronesian Seminar.

• Has attachment: File:6KWJIDEG.pdf

Abstract: "Law, in the most general sense of the word, is basic to human society. All communities, however small and traditional, operate according to what we might call “rules,” even if these rules are not formalized, much less codified, the way modern laws are. Within a year or two of my arrival on Pohnpei, I remember walking into a nahs during a funeral celebration only to hear my Pohnpeian guide admonish me to take off my baseball hat. Not for the first time in my life, I had been guilty of a breach of protocol. If I had been silly enough to sit on the platform of the nahs, next to the Nahnken, who happened to be present, I’m sure I would have received a harsher rebuke from my guide.

Then there was the time a boatload of us headed off to a small island in Chuuk for a picnic. At our arrival, we found the tiny island deserted and coconut fronds tied to many of the trees. We decamped anyway and began our picnic until we were accosted by a middle- aged Chuukese who told us with a mournful look that the man who owned the islet had died just a few weeks before. We glanced at one another, not knowing how to respond, until he added that the island was placed off limits for three months following his death. Finally, we understood what he was getting at, so we packed our things, mumbled our apologies, and left the island as quickly as our 40-horsepower engine could take us.

A few years ago, during a visit to a Yapese village, one of the women in our party made the mistake of entering the men’s house, for which she was admonished. So she beat a hasty retreat from the men’s house and took a seat on one of the stone platforms in front of the house. When she was told this was contrary to the culture, she decided to eat her lunch standing up for fear of violating another..."

Extra details:

DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.4319969
CorpusID: 256451296
OpenAlex: W4320011480