The Superior Justice Of "Blood Money"

The news from Pakistan says that CIA contractor Raymond Davis was pardoned and freed after the victims' families received "blood money" under Sharia law. Davis killed three people.


There are two kinds of Justice in such cases - restitution (as with all torts - and blood money); and retribution (jail or execution, in which the victim suffers for his crime). 


When there is restitution, the victim gets financial compensation.


With retribution, the victim gets nothing - and society pays taxes for the prosecution, trial and detention of the perpetrator.

Retribution is an old, primitive kind of justice - eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth logic.

Restitution is more modern and sophisticated - and reflects "economic man."


I liked Lew Rockwell's comment in favour of blood money in the Davis case. He writes:

The CIA hit man who shot and killed two Pakistanis, and was responsible for the automobile homicide of another, has been let off after the US paid “blood money” to the families of the bereaved. “Diyya” or blood money is a provision in Sharia law. Ancient German and Anglo-Saxon law had such provisions as well. Let’s compare. In the US, the family of a murdered man is not compensated; rather, they are taxed to help maintain the killer in an outpost of the very expensive prison-industrial complex. In Pakistan, the survivors have the choice of seeking compensation rather than punishment. Widows and children will then not be left destitute. Now, which is more civilized?

Ancient Anglo-Saxon law had nothing called "crime" - in the sense of "crimes against the King" or "crimes against the State." There were only "crimes against the individual" - and these were treated as Torts, and fines were levied on perpetrators, so that victims obtained compensation.

Things changed after the Normans took over. Greedy Norman kings legislated certain acts as "crimes against the King" - only for fiscal reasons; that is, to pocket the fines for themselves.

Thus, slowly, the "natural order" under which the Anglo-Saxon tribes lived was radically altered, till we now have crimes, police, prosecution and punishment - while victims get nothing. Frankly, I think the old days were much better.

A good history of the old days can be found in Bruce Benson's The Enterprise of Law: Justice Without the State - which you can buy here. Great book; well worth reading.