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THE RECOGNITION OF ABORIGINAL CUSTOMARY LAWS - 704. Perceptions of Violence.
A further important difference in perception between the Aboriginal
members of the community and the white staff related to the
attitude to fighting and personal assaults. In Taylor's view most
Aborigines did not consider that fighting should be of any concern
to the Aboriginal court or to outsiders. It was a way of resolving
personal differences, well accepted by all parties. Taylor doubts
whether any charges concerning fighting would have been brought if
the incident in question had not been drawn to the attention of
Europeans in some way. Several fights attended by the Aboriginal
police did not result in any charges being brought because no
senior non-Aboriginal member of staff was present. [100] The latter,
by contrast, took the view that fighting and other disturbances
including arguments and bad language threatened the peace and good
order of the settlement and therefore should be dealt with by the
Aboriginal court. This attitude had brought changes to traditional
disputing methods:
In deference to European sensibilities regarding violence they
attempted to tone down the level of violence manifested in disputes
and created territorial canons to suit the settlements
physical structure and to lessen the likelihood of the non-involved
being injured. As well they
accepted the fact that they would have to pay a penalty whenever
disputation took a violent
turn. [101]
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