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LAW AND JUSTICE A " bad man " does not have a chance in the strict communal. Balinese system. Everyone is so dependent on the co-operation and goodwill of others that he whose conduct is not good, or who in some way fails to be in harmony with his community, become a boycotted undesirable. In Bali moral sanctions carry greater weight than physical punishment; light faults bring automatic fines, the confiscation of property, or temporary suspension from the society; but the punishment for major offences range from the dreaded boycott from all desa activities to permanent exile, total banishment from the village. Since the death penalty has been abolished by the Dutch the fearful formula of declaring a man “ dead " is now the capital punishment. A man expelled from his village cannot be admitted into another community, so he becomes a total outcaste - a punishment greater than physical death to the Balinese mind. l often happens that a man who has been publicly shamed kill himself. In the adat law of every village the line of conduct for every act of the villagers is carefully set down. In a general way, the mo; serious crimes are those that seriously impair the well-being of thecommunity and most especially acts that would weaken the village magic, such as temple vandalism, theft from the gods, arson, running amuck, and murder, some of which may be punished by the killing of the offender on the spot. Everybody has to report, armed, immediately upon the signal of alarm (the fast continuous beating of the large kulkul) , to be ready to extinguish a fire or to stop a man that has gone temporarily insane and has run wild. In Den Pasar one afternoon the alarm call was sounded. It was the siesta hour, but instantly everybody was up and out; they grabbed sticks, spears, agricultural implements, or whatever was at hand and rushed out, some on bicycles, towards the sound of the kulkul . Everybody in the bandjar turned out and on the road we even met the old judge, our neighbour, who could hardly walk, but who tagged along brandishing a great sword.
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