Anthropology
Open Access

Abstract

Crime, Punishment and Forensic Expertise According to the Albanian Tradition -A Commentary on the Native Customary Law

Gentian Vyshka, Kreshnik Myftari and Edmond Pistulli

The Albanian customary law has been a source of continuous research and discussions. In the actual available printed mode, it is widely equalized with the Kanun, which represents a collection of the traditional laws and bylaws that governed northern regions of the country. Misinterpreted as a statute of blood feud, in fact, it was a collection of rules, laws and bylaws, serving as a Criminal and as a Civil Code for entire areas that referred to it as the single tool for rule of law, especially during five centuries of ottoman occupation. A detailed description of felonies, wrongdoings, misdemeanors and contraventions, with respective forms of punishment and remuneration, do suggest that the document testifies a highly sophisticated approach toward these phenomena, both in forensic and in legal terms.