THE BANTU OF KAVIRONDO aai
and the witnesses, an ordeal was administered in the presence of the elders of the oliMa. No further action was then required, as the ordeal was supposed to administer justice automatically.
An alternative to the appeal to the elders for arbitration was the continuation of mutual provocations between the disputing parties until a fight ensued. It was then the duty of the elders to intervene by separating the fighters and by persuading them to return to reason and settle their dispute peacefully. The ability of certain men in the sub-clan to carry through such intervention successfully was one of the main requirements for political leadership. 'The head of the clan [omugasa] is the man who talks gently and who can make the people listen to him when they quarrel or fight' is the usual definition given of a traditional 'chief*.
If the dispute or offence was of a more serious nature, if it involved serious injury or even the death of a person, the news of it would quickly spread to all clansmen, and the elders of the different sub-clans would rush to the scene of the offence and hold a meeting ad hoc (ekjruazo) to prevent fighting and discuss the situation and finally give judgement. In such assemblies of the clan council (i.e. of the elders of all sub-clans) there was again no hereditary or formally appointed 'chief judge* or leading sub-clan, but strong personalities who had gained prestige as warriors and givers of feasts were recognized as authorities whose opinion 'Carried more weight than that of the ordinary elders.
The only sanction which supported the legal decisions given by the elders of the sub-clan or by the larger ad hoc assembly of all clan elders was the solidarity of the members of the respective groups in backing these decisions. Native statements assert that whenever the verdict was supported by all or the great majority of the clan elders, the defendant would not have tried to oppose. Were he to have done so without finding any support among a section of his clansmen, the verdict would have been enforced by the elders by appointing a number of men who would take the cattle, or whatever the compensation would be, by force. Besides, the fact that a person who evaded justice in his own clan could only with difficulty migrate and settle in another clan, because he would not have been hospitably received if the reason of his secession became known, would force him to submit to the decision of the elders.