present the reason/ justification for the beating and the victim supinely accepted a violent flogging without either fighting back or making any move to protect him/ herself or the vulnerable parts of his/ her body. This was distinguished from an assault where someone was no the victim did not supinely accept the beating bashed “for reason”. If or the witnesses did not assent, then the violence inflicted was not of “moral violence” this kind but an offence. The Australian Law Reform Commission Aboriginal Customary Law Reference conducted a Field Trip (No 7) to Central Australia in October 1982, and reported on the discussions with men and women at various Central Australian communities. The report on the at Kintore summarised the view on traditional men’s meeting men’s punishment as follows: was obviously strong feeling that traditional punishments would and “There should remain at Kintore (spearings were apparently not uncommon). It was considered legitimate that Aboriginal law should run at Kintore because of the distance from the closest police station and the appropriateness of traditional punishments as against punishments given by recent example white courts.” [A was given.] The report from the meeting was similar: women’s was general approval of the use of customary punishment, as in the case “There of a being given a beating by older women. But a couple of slightly ‘cheeky girl’ younger women at the meeting spoke against customary law punishments being applied, e.g. by a husband against a young about customary ‘lover boy’. Feelings law punishments were not hard and fast. There was, however, approval of spearing to death in the appropriate case, where there is justification. Then, ‘it’s finished and there is no court case’.” At the meeting at Utopia, these views were expressed: men’s the old days it was necessary to If you killed someone then you “In ‘square up’. would get killed. However, this did not happen now and a person only received a spear or a There appeared to be some regret about this change, the white ‘hiding’.
present the reason/ justification for the beating and the victim supinely accepted a violent flogging without either fighting back or making any move to protect him/ herself or the vulnerable parts of his/ her body. This was distinguished from an assault where someone was bashed “for no reason”. If the victim did not supinely accept the beating or the witnesses did not assent, then the violence inflicted was not “moral violence” of this kind but an offence. The Australian Law Reform Commission Aboriginal Customary Law Reference conducted a Field Trip (No 7) to Central Australia in October 1982, and reported on the discussions with men and women at various Central Australian communities. The report on the men’s meeting at Kintore summarised the men’s view on traditional punishment as follows: “There was obviously strong feeling that traditional punishments would and should remain at Kintore (spearings were apparently not uncommon). It was considered legitimate that Aboriginal law should run at Kintore because of the distance from the closest police station and the appropriateness of traditional punishments as against punishments given by white courts.” [A recent example was given.] The report from the women’s meeting was similar: “There was general approval of the use of customary punishment, as in the case of a ‘cheeky girl’ being given a beating by older women. But a couple of slightly younger women at the meeting spoke against customary law punishments being applied, e.g. by a husband against a young ‘lover boy’. Feelings about customary law punishments were not hard and fast. There was, however, approval of spearing to death in the appropriate case, where there is justification. Then, ‘it’s finished and there is no court case’.” At the men’s meeting at Utopia, these views were expressed: “In the old days it was necessary to ‘square up’. If you killed someone then you would get killed. However, this did not happen now and a person only received a spear or a ‘hiding’. There appeared to be some regret about this change, the white