The Early Laws of Filipinos
Loading ...The laws of the early Filipinos were either customary or written. The customary laws consisted of the customs of their ancestors. These were handed down by mouth from one generation to the next and constituted most of the laws of the barangay. The written laws were those that the datu and the elders promulgated from time to time as needed.
The early laws covered many of the matters included in today’s laws. Among these were family relations, property rights, inheritance, contracts, partnerships, usury, loans, crimes and their punishment, adoption, and divorce. Our early ancestors distinguished serous crimes (felonies) from minor offenses (misdemeanors). Regarded as serious crimes were insult, murder, larceny, sorcery, rape, arson, and trespassing. The penalties for these were death, slavery, burning to death, or exorbitant fines.
The minor offenses included petty theft, perjury, adultery, cheating in business dealings, and disturbance of the peace at night by loud singing. These offenses were punished by whipping, by exposure to ants, by cutting the fingers of one hand, by swimming for a certain number of hours, or by small fines. A habitual offender was punished more severely than a first offender.
How a Law was made?
The laws of the barangay were made by the datu with the help of his advisers, which may be called the council of elders. When the datu wanted to make a law, he called his elders to a meeting and told them what he had in mind. The group then discussed the proposed law with him. If the council approved the proposal, the datu summoned the barangay crier, called umalohokan, and ordered him to go around the community announcing the new law to the people–a practice still found today in many towns. With a bell in one hand, the umalohokan wen around the barangay and called the attention of the people. He then announced or read the content of the new law. The law thus went into effect, and any person who should violate it incurred the prescribed penalties.
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