Savages Have No Crime!

During 1931, Alfred Radcliffe-Brown gave a popular talk at Columbia University in New York. He maintained that, unlike the West, savage societies – term commonly used time had no criminal class and succeeded enforcing conformity to social norms. In this article, I suggest despite its defects, highlights central themes Radcliffe-Brown’s thinking about conformity, sanctions law. Drawing on archival sources published material, show how during fieldwork he observed brutalities of colonial rule Andaman Islands, Western Australia South Africa. that critical awareness law served as an ally conquest forms important sub-text writing effective manner which Islanders order, Indigenous Australians settled disputes African courts operated. His comparative, sociological approach, was implicitly societies, vital influence emergence topic anthropological enquiry.