Analysing the law of the talion-an Eye for an Eye, tooth for a tooth- literally, William Ian Miller presents an original meditation on the concept of "pay back." Miller's unique theory of justice offers redemption via retaliation.
It espouses the view that revenge is a highly structured phenomenon that requires a deep commitment to balance in order to get even in a strict but fair manner. As a result, we find that much of what is assumed to be justice, honour and respect is just a way of providing a means of balancing or measuring valuations. Moreover, according to its biblical roots, the law of the talion implies that the value of an eye can only be matched with another eye, suggesting that body parts are to be considered units of valuation. Pursuing this further, the talion seems to require such parts as a preferred means of payment.
Thus body parts have a justified claim not only as money, but as the most valued type of payment as well - by uniquely fulfilling the most demanding (and thus most honourable) means of compensation. Applying this concept to the real world, Miller argues that Shylock's pound of flesh wager can be justified circumstantially in The Merchant of Venice and that blood oaths effectively ensure the most lasting bonds of trust over time.
He also analyses other societies and cultures, comparing the ancient and seemingly more primitive with their modern counterparts, by gauging the role of the talion, as a means of maintaining honour within them. Sadly, the ancient and more primitive seem to have functioned more righteously, for the most part, because the execution of violent retaliation was tightly controlled by the talion and accordingly limited its excesses.
About the Author
William Ian Miller is the Thomas G. Long Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School. He has also taught at Harvard, Yale, Chicago, and the Universities of Bergen and of Tel Aviv. The recipient of a J.D. and a Ph.D. in English, both from Yale, Professor Miller has written other books including Faking It CUP (2003), The Mystery of Courage (2000) and The Anatomy of Disgust (1967).
Industry Reviews
'Getting even, as the biblical precept implies, is the essence of justice, according to this engaging essay. It's a simple idea, but Miller ... finds a world of social complexity in humanity's efforts to get the accounting right. Miller offers a discursive, erudite, idiosyncratic but illuminating reappraisal of our urge to settle scores.' Publisher's Weekly 'Miller gives the Hebrew scriptures an interesting going-over looking for examples, then ranges back to their juridical origins in the legal codes of Babylon and Sumer. He's at his most passionate on the literature of Icelandic sagas, which is one of his great academic specialties ... Miller is at his best when he digresses most completely into literary and film criticism. His chapters on Shakespeare's 'The Merchant of Venice' and Clint Eastwood's 'Unforgiven' are about as good as you can get.' Los Angeles Times 'Clearly, Miller aims to provoke when he claims our ancestors had a better idea about how to repay a wrong than we do now ... Though at points Miller seems earnest in his call for a return to blood-thirstier times, he also argues-quite sensibly - that the American system of criminal justice can be overly detached from the wrongs it intends to right.' Corporate Counsel 'William Ian Miller has written a marvellous book that I found absolutely riveting. Eye for an Eye succeeds brilliantly in demonstrating that the lex talionis was often meant and taken literally; that it still plays a powerful, if submerged, role in our thinking about revenge and justice today; and that, in practice, it was not nearly as brutal or unfair as other, putatively more civilized ways of dealing with the need for revenge. The book is superbly written and often hilariously funny. I loved it.' Wendy Doniger, University of Chicago 'In Eye for an Eye William Ian Miller provides a full-bodied defense of retributive justice, of just desserts, and of an explicitly arithmetic approach to right and wrong, that counts up the eyes, limbs, bodies, and lives on our various social fields of battle, and seeks to right the scales. Miller shows just how pervasive this drive to account for our rights and wrongs has been in legal history, how deeply we continue to feel it, and how limply inadequate are our modern liberal and utilitarian understandings of justice that try so aggressively to purge this elemental instinct from our law and laws. Provocative, erudite, and sometimes laugh-out-loud funny - it is also, often, convincing. Where it is not, it is nevertheless successful: Miller tells his stories in such a way as to make palpable just how much we have sacrificed, as we've turned our collective backs on the age-old project of seeking the precise correction of commensurate wrongs.' Robin West, Georgetown Law Center '... this is a superb book. The reading is easy, even entertaining, and the arguments might just change the way you think of justice, debt, payment and satisfaction. Miller resoundingly demonstrates that legal history can be exciting.' The Cambridge Law Journal 'This is a refreshing and thought-provoking book ... a superb book ... Miller resoundingly demonstrates that legal history can be exciting.' The Cambridge Law Journal
