Although the Moros are nominally under the laws of the United States, their mode of life is directed in great part, by the tenets of the Lawarn Code of Mohammedan law. Through the efforts of Dr. J. M. Saleeby, this code has been translated from the Arabic and the material for this chapter has been secured indirectly as a result of his work.

There are variations between the laws of the Sulu Moros and the Maguindanaos due to differences in opinion expressed by the local tribal authorities of each district.

In general, the decisions of the judges are based literally upon the eighty-five articles comprising the Code and there appears to be no appeal from the judgments they render.

The Lawarn Code has been widely distributed to branches of the army intelligence service as an aid in the adjustment of compromises effected between it and the laws of the United States.

Specific interpretations of the Lawarn Code vary in different localities, as mentioned above. For instance, in Sulu murder was punished by a fine of 105 pesos. Robbery carried a penalty of seventy-five pesos. For either of these crimes, a second offense was punishable by death, with the offender tied to a tree and hacked to pieces with a barong. The fine for theft was seventy pesos, with amputation of the right hand as punishment for a second offense. In the case of incest, the man and woman were placed in a basket loaded with stones and sunk into the sea.

In Mindanao, a man who laid hands upon a strange woman was fined nine pesos. If the woman was married, the fine was 105 pesos. If the woman allowed the attack to go unreported over night, she was forced to pay half of the fine .

The punishment for adultery varied in the two districts. In Sulu, an adulterer, or an adulteress had one half of the scalp shaved after which the guilty one was whipped with one hundred lashes. In Mindanao, the punishment for adultery was much more severe. A husband had the right to slay a wife if she proved untrue.

The eighty-five sections of the Lawarn Code, given here in detail, were secured from army sources and due acknowledgment is made, both to the army Intelligence Division and to Dr. Saleeby, the translator.

In the name of God the Compassionate and the Merciful, Praise be to God, who led us to the faith and religion of Islam. May God's blessing be with our Master Mohammed and with all of his people and followers.

The following articles are taken from the Minhaj and Fathu-l-qarreb and Taqareeb-l-Intifa and Mirqatu-t-Tullah and have been translated from Arabic into Malay dialect of Mindanao, the land of peace.

ARTICLE ONE--If two people disagree as to the ownership of a certain piece of property, the actual possessor has the right to the property if he swears to that effect. In case both of them are in actual possession of the property, both ought to swear. If both of them swear to that effect, the property shall be divided between them equally. If only one swears, the property shall be given to him alone.

ARTICLE TWO--If a person borrows an article and loses it, he shall replace it or pay the value. The same rule shall apply if the article be stolen, there shall also be paid a reasonable additional compensation for the lost article.

ARTICLE THREE--if a person borrows an axe or a button, and the axe be broken or the button be lost while being used for the purpose for which it was loaned and not on account of carelessness, the lost article should be replaced. But if the axe be used at a place overhanging the water, or is used to cut a stock of bamboo without being well tied or fastened and be lost, it shall then necessarily be replaced.

ARTICLE FOUR--If two persons disagree as to whether or not a certain debt has been paid, and have no witnesses to the fact, the plaintiff's claim shall be maintained, in case he confirm it by oath. In case he refuses to take an oath, the defendant's claim shall be sustained.

ARTICLE FIVE--If a person entrusts another with his property and later calls for it and it is denied him on the plea that it has been taken back, or that it is lost, and no witnesses can be obtained, the trustee's plea shall be sustained, if he confirms it by oath.

ARTICLE SIX--If a person enters a claim to his lost property which has been found and kept by another person and the finder refuses to deliver the property on the plea that it is his own property and that it has been in his possession for a long time, and there shall be no witnesses to testify that the property is a find, and not an old possession of the finder, the finder shall return the property found and pay a compensation of one spitoon or two.

ARTICLE SEVEN--The seller of another's property shall return the seized property and pay an additional amount proportional to the interest derived from the property.

ARTICLE EIGHT--If a person enter the house of another at night, without the consent of the owner thereof, and the said owner complain of the offense, the person entering shall be fined four spitoons.

ARTICLE NINE--If a man enter the house of another with the intention of holding private intercourse with a woman therein, with whom it is unlawful for him to associate privately, and the woman objects, he shall be fined four spitoons or shall suffer from 20 to 39 lashes, or shall be slapped on his face, at the discretion of the Judge.

ARTICLE TEN--If a woman came into the house of a man with the intention of marrying him and living with him, and the man refuse to marry her and she is later taken away by her people, the man shall not be liable to fine or punishment.

ARTICLE ELEVEN--If a man divorce his wife after the conclusion of the marriage act or ceremony, and before any sexual intercourse has taken place, the woman shall have half of the dowry only. If the divorce occurs after sexual intercourse has taken place, the woman shall have all of the dowry.
SECTION 2--If a man refuse to marry a woman after having been engaged to her, the dowry shall be returned to him, excepting the expense incurred by the father of the woman for the feast attending the occasion.

ARTICLE TWELVE--If a person curse or abuse another person without cause, he shall be fined not more than three spitoons.

ARTICLE THIRTEEN--If a person falsely claim another person as his slave, he shall be fined the value of one slave.
SECTION 2--If a person defames another by calling him Bal Bal or poisoner, he shall be fined one slave or the value of one slave.

ARTICLE FOURTEEN--If both giver and receiver understand that a certain piece of property should be rewarded, and the receiver refuses to render a reward, the giver shall take back the gift.

ARTICLE FIFTEEN--Any gift given with the expectation of reward cannot be recovered after the receiver has taken possession of it, but if the giver change his mind before the receiver take possession of the gift, the owner resumes the ownership of the given property.

ARTICLE SIXTEEN--In the discretion of the Judge and the Datu, a thief of property amounting to one malong or more, shall have his hand cut off and shall return the stolen property. If the stolen property does not amount to the value of one malong or more, the thief shall suffer thirty-nine lashes or pay a fine of four spitoons.

ARTICLE SEVENTEEN--Property, the gift of parents to their child, shall be recoverable if it has not been expended or destroyed.

ARTICLE EIGHTEEN--If there is any doubt of the truth of the evidence, or the truthfulness of the witness, they shall be confirmed by oath.

ARTICLE NINETEEN--Testimony of a slave, which is detrimental to himself, shall be accepted.

ARTICLE TWENTY--The testimony of children, of the insane, or of an imbecile, shall be held invalid.

ARTICLE TWENTY-ONE--If a person enter a house without permission, and in the absence of the owner, he shall be held responsible for, and shall restore or pay for, any articles that may be found missing from the house. A person who enters the field of another shall likewise be held responsible for, and shall restore or pay for any article found missing from the field.

ARTICLE TWENTY-TWO--If a person loan or sell to a slave without the knowledge or consent of the owner of the slave, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and the master of the slave shall not be held accountable for the actions or transactions of his slave.

ARTICLE TWENTY-THREE--In all differences that arise in the course of an agreement for the sale of properly respecting the price or the amount of the sold property, where no witnesses can be obtained, the seller shall be maintained if he confirm his statement by oath, otherwise, the buyer's statement shall be sustained.

ARTICLE TWENTY-FOUR--If the buyer and seller differ as to whether a certain defect in the purchased property occurred prior to or later than the date of purchase, the seller's statement shall be sustained if he confirm it by oath, otherwise the buyer's statement stall be sustained.

ARTICLE TWENTY-FIVE--If, after the purchase of the property, the buyer discovers a defect in the property which occurred or existed prior to the sale or purchase, he may return, the property to the seller and pay him a reasonable compensation, proportional to the decrease occasioned in the value of the property through the detection of the defects, and he shall then recover the purchase price of the property.

ARTICLE TWENTY-SIX--No purchased property shall be returned to the seller on account of the defect therein which occurred after the sale.

ARTICLE TWENTY-SEVEN--If a person buy a slave and discover a defect in him and return him to the seller, but the seller denies the slave's identity, the statements of the buyer shall be sustained. Similar cases pertaining to other kinds of properly shall be judged similarly.

ARTICLE TWENTY-EIGHT--It is lawful to return purchased property which is defective. The return shall be delayed not longer than prayer time or meal time, or one night in the event of the purchase having been made in the evening.

ARTICLE TWENTY-NINE--If a creditor die and his heirs sue a debtor, but the debtor denies the debt on the plea that the deceased creditor gave him as a gift, or in charity, or that he has been paid, that for which he is sued, and there are no witnesses, the heir must swear. Failure to swear on the part of the heir shall render the debtor immune from payment of the debt.

ARTICLE THIRTY--If a person buys property or a slave, and another person recognizes the slave or the property as his own, and lays claim thereto, and is able to produce a witness to that effect, the buyer shall return the purchased property or the slave to the seller, but shall receive whatever he has paid.

ARTICLE THIRTY-ONE--If a person finds his property in the possession of another and it is convenient for him to retake the same, he shall be justified in so doing. But in the event of an objection being raised to the recovery, or it be inconvenient to recover the property, he shall present the same to the Datu or the Judge, after which it shall be justifiable for him to take his property even though it may be necessary for him to break a door, or to break through walls to do so. Under any circumstances he shall have the right to recover his property or its equivalent in kind, or any substitute not in excess of the value of the property.

ARTICLE THIRTY-TWO--If, while a person is spying on the house of another and the occupants throw a stone or otyher things out of the house and thereby cause the death of the spy, no guilt shall be attached to their action.

ARTICLE THIRTY-THREE--If the provisions, or fowl, or food supply of a person he eaten by the cats or cattle, and the owner thereof be notified by The injured party to secure their animal or animals, and the warning or notice is disregarded, whereby the provisions, or the food or food supplies are eaten up, the owner of the cats or cattle shall be responsible for the loss.

ARTICLE THIRTY-FOUR--If a person seduce or cohabitate with a female slave held by him as security for a debt, with the knowledge or consent of the truster, he shall not be guilty but shall give her a dower.
SECTION 2--If the seduction or cohabitation occur without the consent of the truster, the creditor shall be liable to a fine, or shall give the woman a dower to he paid to the debtor.
SECTION 3--If the creditor begets a child of the slave held as security in the preceding section, he shall buy the child from the debtor. Otherwise, the child shall become the property of the debtor.

ARTICLE THIRTY-FIVE--If the creditor and debtor differ as to the security or its amount, the debtor's statement shall be sustained if confirmed by oath, otherwise the statement of the creditor shall be sustained.

ARTICLE THIRTY-SIX--If the security be lost and no blame be attached to the creditor he shall not he held liable for the loss, and the debtor shall not be relieved from his debt.

ARTICLE THIRTY-SEVEN--If the principal and his agent differ, and the agent claims that he has acted in accordance with the orders of his principal, and the claim be denied by the principal, the state-ment of the latter shall be sustained if confirmed by oath.

ARTICLE THIRTY-EIGHT--If a married woman commit adultery, both adulterer and adulteress shall suffer eighty lashes, If the lashes are changed or reduced to a fine, half of the number of the woman's lashes shall be added to the man's fine.

ARTICLE THIRTY-NINE--If a person charge another with the payment of his debt, and the creditor sues the proxy for the unpaid debt, but the proxy claims to have paid the same, the creditor's statement shall be sustained if confirmed by oath.

ARTICLE FORTY--If a man seduce a maiden, both shall suffer one hundred lashes and the man shall marry the woman and live with her, even though he be married.

ARTICLE FORTY-ONE--The statements of the plaintiff shall be sustained or confirmed by witness. If there be no witness, the defendant shall take an oath.

ARTICLE FORTY-TWO--If slaves commit adultery, both man and woman shall suffer fifty lashes.

ARTICLE FORTY-THREE--If a married man commit adultery with a free woman, both shall be stoned to death. The punishment of the man may be reduced to imprisonment. The woman shall be buried up to the chest and stoned with small stones,

ARTICLE FORTY-FOUR--If a free man seduce a maiden slave, and she become pregnant and die during childbirth, the seducer shall pay the value of the slave, to the owner.

ARTICLE FORTY-FIVE--If a bachelor or a widower commit adultery and be killed by a non-Mohammedan, the non-Mohammedan shall bc put to death, but a Mohammedan who may kill such an adulterer shall not be put to death.

ARTICLE FORTY-SIX--If a man recognizes his cattle or his trees in another's charge and notifies him of the fact, and has witness to confirm his statement that the cattle or trees are his, he shall be entitled to the produce of the cattle or of the trees, even though they remain in the charge of the other. Likewise, if a slave who has been lost, be recognized by his master, in charge of another person, and the owner of the slave notifies that person of the fact that the slave is his, and has witness to confirm the statement, he shall likewise be entitled to whatever his slave may produce even if the slave remain in charge of the person aforesaid.

ARTICLE FORTY-SEVEN--If a man rents a field from another with the intention of cultivating it, but fails to do so, and returns it to the owner thereof, he shall he liable for the rent and shall pay the same at harvesting time, the same as if he had cultivated the land and reaped the produce. Likewise, if a boat be hired, the hirer thereof, shall pay the owner whether or not it has been used for the intended travel.

ARTICLE FORTY-EIGHT-- If a slave run away and enter thee house of a certain person, or if a person finds a runaway slave, the owner of which is known to him, but fails to give notice of the fact, and the slave again runs away, the finder shall be responsible for the slave to the owner thereof.

ARTICLE FORTY-NINE -- If a married man leave his home on a long journey and nothing is heard of him, his wife shall not have the right to marry another, even if she learns the fact that he has died, or has divorced her. She shall then wait four years, after which she shall observe the customary mourning for his death, she may thereafter marry again. The Judge shall be careful not to change this decree in order that his power and influence shall not suffer.

ARTICLE FIFTY-- If a boat is in danger of sinking, it shall be right and proper to throw its cargo overboard. But if a man does throw away property without the knowledge of the owner thereof, and the boat does not sink, he shall then replace the missing propeity. If a person tell another to throw his property overboard, promising fo replace it, and the property be thrown overboard, but the boat does not sink, he shall replace the property; but where there has been no promise to replace the property, he shall not be held liable.

ARTICLE FIFTY-ONE -- If a debtor die, his debts shall be payable from his estate, his estate being regarded in the nature of security.
SECTION 2-- If a. debtor die and leave no estate, his heirs shall not be liable for his debts. By heirs is meant parents, children, brothers, sisters, grandparents and grandchildren.
SECTION 3 -- If a debtor die and leave his estate to his heirs, the heirs shall pay his debts, and shall use their inheritance in the payment thereof whether it is sufficient or not.
SECTION 4 -- If the heirs divide their inheritance before they know of the existence of a claim or debt against the estate, they shall return their share to pay the debt, whether the inheritance is sufficient or not; if they have used their inheritance prior to the knowledge of the debt, they shall pay out of their own property an equal thereto in payment of the debt.

ARTICLE FIFTY-TWO--If a man order another man to shoot a deer, believing he is ordering him to shoot a deer, and the person shoots, believing also that he is shooting at a deer, but hits a man, neither the shooter nor the man who ordered him to shoot shall be liable to punishment but shall pay only a slight fine in blood money. Likewise if a man order another to shoot at a tree but hits a man, neither the shooter nor the man who ordered him to shoot shall be liable to punishment but shall pay only a slight fine in blood money.

ARTICLE FIFTY-THREE--In case a person order another person to climb up a tree and the climber falls from the tree, there shall be no liability to punishment, whether the climber dies or not. A medium fine only shall be paid as blood money.

ARTICLE FIFTY-FOUR--If a female slave in possession of a certain person has a child which is recognized by another person as his own child and born of the slave during her stay in his possession, and the claims are denied by her present owner, and there shall be witness to the truth of the claim, the plaintiff shall confirm his testimony by oath. Failure to confirm this testimony by oath and the lack of conclusive evidence that the child is a free child begotten by the plaintiff of the slave, shall render the claim void.

ARTICLE FIFTY-FIVE--If a man recognize a slave whom he has liberated in the possession of another man, who denies the claim, and there be a witness who bears not the claim of the plaintiff, the plaintiff shall confirm his statement by oath, may recover his slave and reliberate him. But if his statement is nort confirmed by oath it shall not be sustained.

ARTICLE FIFTY-SIX--If two persons enter into a partnership and later on one of them asks the other to sell the property or stock and divide the proceeds, and the property be sold and the amount received, but the seller claims the whole as his, to which the other partner objects on the ground that it belongs to the partnership; and the other partner claims that it is his own, the statement of the person in the possession of the property or its price, shall be sustained if confirmed by oath; but otherwise it shall be rejected.
SECTION 2--If, in the preceding case, the seller divide the proceeds and give his partner part thereof, and holds the remainder for himself, claiming that the amount of the proceeds has been divided, but the other partner refuses to accept his division on the grounds that it has not occurred, the claim of the complaining partner against the division shall be sustained if confirmed by oath.
SECTION 3--If one of the two partners in the preceding case buy and take possession of the property of the partnership and then deny that it is the form of property, claiming that it was bought. by someone else, to which the other partner objects as a false claim, the statement of the latter shall be sustained if confirmed by oath, otherwise the buyer's statement shall be sustained.

ARTICLE FIFTY-SEVEN--If a free man kill another free man or a free woman, or a slave kill another slave, they shall be punished.
SECTION 2--If afree man kill a slave, the free man shall not be put to death.
SECTION 3--If a slave or other servant kill a free person, he shall be put to death.

ARTICLE FIFTY-EIGHT--If the blood money for life of a woman or hermaphrodite shall be half that of a man; so also shall the fine for wounding a woman be rated as half that for a man.

ARTICLE FIFTTY-NINE--If a free man divorce his wife three times, or a slave divorce his wife twice, it shall not be lawful for any of them to rnarry the same wife again before the divorced woman is married to another person,

ARTICLE SIXTY--If the husband of a pregnant woman die, or a free woman be divorced, she shall mourn for four months and ten days.
SECTION 2--If a slave be divorced, she shall mourn two months and ten days.

ARTICLE SIXTY-ONE--If a person throw the sweepings of the house or the parings of fruit on the road and a person carrying certain articles and passing on the road, steps on them and thereby dips and falls and loses his property, the person who threw the sweepings or fruit parings in the road shall pay for the lost property. He shall also be responsible for any injury resulting from the fall.

ARTICLE SIXTY-TWO--If a person give an imbecile, of an insane person or a child, poison to ear, and the said child, insane person, or imbecile dies as a result thereof, he shall be punished.

ARTICLE SIXTY-THREE--If a person gets drunk and fights or kills another, he shall be liable for punishment.

ARTICLE SIXTY-FOUR--If a child, or an imbecile, or an insane person, kill another person, they shall not be liable to punishment .but shall pay blood money.

ARTICLE SIXTY-FIVE--If a child under age be in a high place and be frightened by some person and as a result, falls and dies, the person who frightened him shall pay blood money.

ARTICLE SIXTY-SIX--If a person who is shooting or hunting, startle a child who happens to be in a high place, and the child falls and dies as a result thereof, he shall pay a small fine as blood money.

ARTICLE SIXTY-SEVEN--If a slave be wounded, the fine in corn-pensation for his injury shall be the price of the slave in case of his death, or an amount equal to the decrease in value of the slave if he does not die.

ARTICLE SIXTY-EIGHT--If a slave be guilty of cutting another, he shall be liable to the fine thereby incurred. If his master does not pay the fine, he may sell the guilty slave and pay the fine from the amount received therefrom.
SECTION 2--If the master of the guilty slave refuse to sell him he shall compensate for the decreased value of the slave who has been cut.

ARTICLE SIXTY-NINE--If a plaintiff produce a witness, his statement shall he sustained.
SECTION 2--If the plaintiff has not a witness, the defendant shall take an oarth, but if the defendant refuse to take an oath, the plaintiff shall swear and his statement shall be sustained.

ARTICLE SEVENTY--If the owner of a slave die and his heirs claim the slave, and the slave objects on the ground that he has been liberated by his deceased master, the slave shall take an oath to that effect, which oath shall confirm his statement; but if an oath is not taken by the slave, the claim of the heirs shall be sustained.

ARTICLE SEVENTY-ONE--All property loans shall be paid back in kind. If that be impracticable, the value thereof shall be expected,

ARTICLE SEVENTY-TWO--The will of a free person shall be legitimate, whether he be non-Mohammedan, or a person of bad character; but the will of an insane person, a child, a slave, and imbecile shall not be legitimate.

ARTICLE SEVENTY-THREE--If the legatee die before the testator the will shall be held invalid; but if the legatee die after the death of the testator, the heirs of the legatee shall be entitled to the share under the will.

ARTICLE SEVENTY-FOUR--If a person will his estate to one of his heirs, the will shall be sustained if the other heirs consent to it; but if they do not consent, the will shall be not sustained.

ARTICLE SEVENTY-FIVE--If a person recognize his property in the possession of another, which property he has neither sold nor given away in charity or otherwise, it shall be lawful for him to take or recover his property, unless he is afraid that he may be killed. In case he is afraid, he shall present the matter to the Datu or Judge.

ARTICLE SEVENTY-SIX--The action of a guardian or an agent shall be binding on the ward or principal respectively. The insane, imbeciles, or children shall never be guardians or agents.

ARTICLE SEVENTY-SEVEN--If two persons collide unintentionally or accidentally and one person be injureed, the liability of the guilty person for the fine or compensation shall extend to his heirs. The fine shall be small.

ARTICLE SEVENTY-EIGHT-- If, in the preceding case, the collision be intentional, the liability shall be the same, but the fines shall be equal to half of the limit.

ARTICLE SEVENTY-NINE--If children, or imbeciles, or insane. persons collide, the same shall govern as in the case of sui juris persons.

ARTICLE EIGHTY--A son, or the only child, shall inherit all of the estate of his father and mother.
SECTION 2--A daughter, the only child, shall inherit half the estate of her father and mother.
SECTION 3--Two or more sons, the only children, shall inherit and share the estate of their father and mother equally.
SECTION 4--In case one son and one daughter are the only children, the estate of the father and mother shall be divided into three parts, of which the son, shall receive two parts, and the daughter one part.
SECTION 5--Two or more daughters, the only children, shall inherit two-thirds of the estate of their parenrs.
SECTION 6--In case of multiplicity of sons and daughters, the estate shall be divided as to give each daughter one half the share of one son.

ARTICLE EIGHTY-ONE--A husband shall inherit the estate of his wife in the event of her death and when she has neither child nor grandchild,

ARTICLE EIGHTY-TWO--In the event of the death of a wife who has children or grandchildren, her husband shall inherit one quarter of her estate, and the other heirs shall inherit three-quarters.

ARTICLE EIGHTY-THREE.--In the event of the death of a man who has no children or grandchildren, his wife shall inherit one quarter of his estate only.

ARTICLE EIGHTY-FOUR--In the event of the death at a man who has children or grandchildren, his wife shall inherit one-eighth of his estate only.

ARTICLE EIGHTY-FIVE--A. father, or a son, or a wife, or a husband, cannot he disinherited by other heirs.
SECTION 2--A son disinherits full brothers and sisters and all other heirs.
SECTION 3--A full brother and sister disinherits further heirs.
SECTION 4--A grandfather, a father and a grandson, disinherits a brother or a sister from the mother alone, or other heirs.
SECTION 5--A grandfather, brother, son, uncle or aunt on the father's side, disinherits a full nephew or niece or further heirs.
SECTION 6--A full nephew disinherits another nephew who is not a full brother or sister.
SECTION 7--A nephew on the father's side disinherits a full cousin or further heirs.
SECTION 8--A full uncle or aunt disinherits an uncle or aunt on the father's side.
SECTION 9--A full cousin disinherits a cousin on the father's side.

GOD'S KNOWLEDGE SURPASSES OUR KNOWLEDGE.

The original of the copy was made at noon on the twentieth day of Jamadu Iaawal, in the year of the war between Bwayan and the Infidels. To amplify some of the Articles of the Lawarn Code, a few of the standard fines for various offenses are noted herewith:.

Slander not justified is punished with a fine of fifteen pesos. A slight wound costs the aggressor five pesos while a serious wound carries a penalty of fifteen pesos and the forfeiture of the weapon performing the act. Under the strict interpretation of the Code, a well-to-do murderer could usually escape the death penalty by the payment of six slaves. In case adultery was not punished by death, the fine was usually sixty pesos and two slaves.

Insulting a Datu was a serious offense calling for an indeterminate fine of large proportions. In addition, the culprit became enslaved for life. Failure to accept these terms indicated a death sentence.

The values of slaves varied greatly according to their age, state of health and general appearance. Usually, the value of a slave was judged at twenty to thirty pesos.

Original publication © 1936 E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc.

Filipiniana Reprint Series © 1985 Cacho Hermanos, Inc.

This page (HTML format) © 2001 Bakbakan International. Transcription courtesy of Ashley Bass.