Misuse of "Blood Law"
The term "blood law" is sometimes used in a looser sense, to mean any form of capital punishment, or any form of collective revenge without a formal trial. In this broader sense, blood law was common in Western societies. It was called outlawing, and was practiced as a part of common law in England, Europe, and Iceland. A person could be declared an outlaw for refusing to submit to a legal system. Thereafter, such a person had no recourse to the legal system, and could legally be killed or robbed. The use of "blood law" to refer to outlawry may be considered ethnocentric.
The term has also been improperly used to refer to a law passed by the Cherokee General Council on October 24, 1829, which specified capital punishment for selling Cherokee lands to foreign governments, in particular the United States.
Whereas; a law has been in existence for many years, but not committed to writing, that if any citizen or citizens of this Nation should treat and dispose of any lands belonging to this Nation without special permission from the National authorities, he or they shall suffer death; Therefore; resolved, by the Committee and Council, in General Council convened, that any person or persons who shall, contrary to the will and consent of the legislative council of this Nation in general council convened, enter into a treaty with any commissioner or commissioners of the United States, or any officers instructed for that purpose, and agree to sell or dispose of any part or portion of the National lands defined in this Constitution of this Nation, he or they so offending, upon conviction before any of the circuit judges aforesaid are authorized to call a court for the trial of any such person or persons so transgressing. Be it Further Resolved; that any person or persons, who shall violate the provisions of this act, and shall refuse, by resistance, to appear at the place designated for trial, or abscond, are hereby declared to be outlaws; and any person or persons, citizens of this Nation, may kill him or them so offending, in any manner most convenient, within the limits of this Nation, and shall not be held accountable for the same.
— Cherokee General Council
Since this refers to Cherokee Government law rather than traditional clan enforced law, and does not pertain to homicide, this is not blood law as understood by historians and Cherokee tradition. In fact, Cherokee blood law had been reformed in 1808 and abolished in 1810, with the introduction of the "lighthorse" police force.
This and similar "blood laws" led to low-level civil war among several of the Five Civilized Tribes during and following their removal to the West. The most noted were the friction between the Lower Creeks and the Upper Creeks and the killings between the John Ross and Ridge factions of the Cherokee Nation; both of which lasted from the 1820s to the American Civil War. Among those who were executed under such laws were Major Ridge, John Ridge, and Elias Boudinot.
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