It thus appears that the sacrifice of the divine animal which was the
god of the tribe or clan, and the eating of its flesh and drinking of
its blood together, was the only tangible bond or obligation on which
such law and morality as existed in primitive society was based. Those
who participated in this sacrifice were brothers and forbidden to shed
each other's blood, because in so doing they would have spilt the
blood of the god impiously and unlawfully; the only lawful occasion
on which it could be shed being by participation of all the clan or
kinsmen in the sacrificial meal. All other persons outside the clan
were strangers or enemies, and no rights or obligations existed in
connection with them; the only restraint on killing them being the
fear that their kinsmen would take blood-revenge, not solely on the
murderer, but on any member of his clan. A man's life was protected
only by this readiness of his clansmen to avenge him; if he slew a
fellow-kinsman, thus shedding the blood of the god which flowed in the
veins of every member, or committed any other great impiety against the
god, he was outlawed, and henceforth there was no protection for his
life except such as he could afford himself by his own strength. This
reflection puts the importance of the blood-feud in primitive society
in a clear light. It was at that time really a beneficent institution,
being the only protection for human life; and its survival among such
backward races as the Pathans and Corsicans, long after the State
has undertaken the protection and avenging of life and the blood-feud
has become almost wholly useless and evil, is more easily understood.