LWSO 203 Lecture Notes - 1969 White Paper, Potlatch, Indian Act
Document Summary
Aboriginal influences: aboriginal political and legal systems. Reactionary law our legal system is responding to events and power struggles. Aboriginal law the law and legal systems of aboriginal people. Aboriginal law applying canadian law to aboriginal peoples. It is very hard to generalize and talk about them as one (various perspectives, ideas) Some had councils (groups of elders) that made decisions based on best interests of the group. Some had different groups making decisions depending on whether it was a peace issue or aggressive/outside force issue (split government structure) Very stable political structure; consistent and did not change much over time. This is because the place sucked to live in, so you needed that stability and cohesion for survival. In order to live, you had to get along. Most had a stable method of governance and making decisions. Through the telling of stories and legends, the social norms were passed on from generation to generation; the norms were not direct.