Private Justice System Issues - Essay Example

According to Otis Rice, the legacy of the civil war, the weakness of institutions such as the church, and education system, the isolation of the family, and the impotence of the law led to the origin of those feuds with an example being the Hatfield-McCoy feud (King, 2013). The occasional revenge in retribution for the evil done by each rival side shortly set the wheel in motion. John Ed Pearce adds that much of the feud violence never reached the courts. This is because they had little or no trust, for them, and thus ended up settling the matters themselves (King, 2013). He adds most of the settlers were of aristocratic background, who had fled harsh English laws and oppression and had found a new way of life of which they wanted nobody to infringe on them. Therefore, they fought for what they saw as justice themselves a case being the Martin-Tolliver feud in Kentucky.

In conclusion, revenge, a poor justice system, the need for self-rule and political factors made the family feuds and conflicts to resolve hence their longevity. The quest for freedom and the thought of crushing anybody, which threatened it be it laws or neighboring society, made the feuds escalate to an extent of legendary status.