This book is one of the most important works of modern anthropology. Starting from his studies of the Melanesian society on the Trobriand Islands of New Guinea, Malinowski describes and examines the ways in which Trobriand Islanders structure and maintain the social and economic order of their tribe. “The true problem”, Malinowski says, “is not to study how human life submits to rules; the real problem is how the rules become adapted to life.” Crime and Custom in Savage Society is a necessary book to understand the articulate relationship between law and society.
Bronislaw Malinowski (1884- 1942) was one of the most important anthropologists of the twentieth century. He was known for his ethnographic work in the Trobriand Islands, which yielded material for such classic works as Argonauts of the Western Pacific, Sexual Life of Savages in Northwestern Melanesia, Coral Gardens and Their Magic, and Crime and Custom in Savage Society.