Ian Cooper says:
> If the clan agrees to purseu the matter they don't necessarily have
to go to a tribal moot to get compensation. If your not feuding or
hostile to the other clan then its more likely emissaries are sent to
the offenders clan to request the compensation. If that doesn't bring
you any satisfaction, then it may be time to go to law, but I think
that this kind of out-of-court settlement is a favoured choice.
Sometimes, sure, you may just go stright to the tribe, maybe you want
to display your grievances with the other clan to the tribe to win
support, but a lot of the time, for minor infractions its easier to
debate the matter directly.
I think that requests for compensation are rarely dealt with at the tribal level. Instead they are handled by formal legal claims before the offending clan. The only time the tribe would get involved if the feuding between clans threatened legitimate tribal interests. Of course, the Tribal ring can send the tribal lawspeaker or jurors to assist either side, lean on the clan rings, etc. Leadership by cajoling, bullying, and appeals to better/baser natures rather than fiat or decree.
In a later message:
> IMO when Clan A and Clan B initially talk directly, as you describe,
that this is often an attempt, made on the victim's behalf, by his
clan to 'settle out of court'.
If it's an open and shut case, the fault is relatively clear, there's no bad blood between the participants, etc, the decision may already have been arrived at by the time the formal hearing occurs but I think there is always formal action because:
> Think of KoDP where you get requests for compensation from other
clans.
I suspect the process is abbreviated in KoDP to speed play (although Mr. Dunham might correct me here).
> And, in the same way modern legal cases are often settled out of
court, by each sides lawyers, before they ever reach trial. But if
the two sides cannot reach a settlement, or have no desire to try,
then they go to court to get a ruling by another party.
But the clans are both going to want some sort of inquest before they get involved in a potentially troublesome situation; why not keep it out in the open?
> What I am trying to suggest is that there is an escalation, and there
are built in points to avoid going to court or starting a feud ...if
you want to take them.
Yes, indeed, I think the formal proceedings are at the start of this. What's bad is when the injured bloodline just sends some killers to take an appropriate revenge -- that's circumventing the law, although it's within custom (especially if you can catch the raiders while they are still on your tula).
Peter Larsen
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