Feud

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Feud

A 'feud' (referred to in more extreme cases as a blood feud or vendetta) is a long-running argument or fight between parties—often, through guilt by association, groups of people, especially families

Family

Family denotes a group of people affiliated by a common ancestry, affinity or co-residence. Although the concept of consanguinity originally referred to relations by "blood," some cultural anthropology have argued that one must understand the idea of "blood" metaphorically, and that many societies understand 'family' through other concepts r...
or clan

Clan

A clan is a group of people united by kinship and descent, which is defined by actual or perceived descent from a common ancestor. Even if actual lineage patterns are unknown, clan members may nonetheless recognize a founding member or apical ancestor....
s. Feuds begin because one party (correctly or incorrectly) perceives itself to have been attacked, insulted or wronged by another. Intense feelings of resentment

Resentment

Resentment is an emotion of anger or bitterness felt repeatedly, as a result of a real, or imagined, wrong done.Robert C. Solomon, a professor of continental philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin, places resentment on the same line-continuum with contempt and anger....
trigger the initial retaliation

Revenge

Revenge is a harmful action against a person or group as a response to a wrongdoing. Although many aspects of revenge resemble the concept of justice, revenge connotes a more injurious and punishment focus as opposed to a harmonious and restorative one....
, which causes the other party to feel equally aggrieved and vengeful.

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Family

Clan

Resentment

Revenge

Cycle

Cycle or Cyclic may refer to:* Motorcycle* Bicycle* Cycling, the act of riding a bicycle or tricycle* Tricycle...
of retaliatory violence

Violence

Violence is the expression of physical force against self or other, compelling action against one's will on pain of being hurt. Variant uses of the term refer to the destruction of non-living objects ....
. This continual cycle of provocation and retaliation makes it extremely difficult to end the feud peacefully. Feuds frequently involve the original parties' family members and/or associates, and can last for generation

Generation

Generation , also known as reproduction, is the act of producing offspring. In a more generic sense, it can also refer to the act of creating something inanimate such as electricity generation or cryptography code generation....
s.

Up to the early modern period

Early modern period

The early modern period is a term used by historians to refer to the period roughly between 1500 to 1800 in Western Europe . It follows the Late Middle Ages period, and is marked by the first European colony, the rise of strong centralized governments, and the beginnings of recognizable nation states that are the direct antecedents of today'...
, feuds were considered legitimate legal instruments and were regulated to some degree. Once modern centralizing

Centralization

Centralization is the Process by which the activities of an organization, particularly those regarding decision-making, become concentrated within a particular location and/or group....
states asserted and enforced a monopoly on legitimate use of force

Monopoly on the legitimate use of physical force

The monopoly on the legitimate use of violence is the definition of the state expounded by Max Weber in Politics as a Vocation, and has been predominant in philosophy of law and political philosophy in the twentieth century....
, feuds became illegal and the concept acquired its current negative connotation.

Blood feuds/vendetta

A blood feud is a feud with a cycle of retaliatory violence, with the relatives of someone who has been killed or otherwise wronged or dishonored seeking vengeance by killing or otherwise physically punishing the culprits or their relatives. Historically, the word vendetta has been used to mean a blood feud. The word is Italian

Italian language

Italian is a Romance languages spoken by about 63 million people as a first language, primarily in Italy. In Switzerland, Italian is one of four Linguistic geography of Switzerlands....
, and originates from the Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
vindicta, "vengeance

Vengeance

Vengeance may refer to:In publications:*Vengeance , a character in the 1859 novel by Charles Dickens*Vengeance , by Scott Ciencin and Dan Jolley...
." In modern times, the word is sometimes extended to mean any other long-standing feud, not necessarily involving bloodshed.

Vendetta history

Originally, a vendetta was a blood feud between two families where kinsmen of the victim intended to avenge his or her death by killing either those responsible for the killing or some of their relatives. The responsibility to maintain the vendetta usually falls on the closest male relative to whoever has been killed or wronged, but other members of the family may take the mantle as well. If the culprit had disappeared or was already dead, the vengeance could extend to other relatives.

Vendetta is typical of societies with a weak rule of law (or where the state doesn't consider itself responsible for mediating this kind of dispute) where family and kinship ties are the main source of authority

Authority

In government, authority is often used interchangeably with the term "power ". However, their meanings differ: while "power" refers to the ability to achieve certain ends, "authority" refers to a claim of legitimacy , the justification and right to exercise that power....
. An entire family is considered responsible for whatever one of them has done. Sometimes even two separate branches of the same family could come to blows over some matter.

The practice has mostly disappeared with more centralized, rationalistic societies where law enforcement and criminal law

Criminal law

The term criminal law, sometimes called penal law, refers to any of various bodies of rules in different jurisdictions whose common characteristic is the potential for unique and often severe impositions as punishment for failure to comply....
take responsibility of punishing lawbreakers.

In ancient Homeric Greece, the practice of personal vengeance against wrongdoers was considered natural and customary: "Embedded in the Greek morality of retaliation is the right of vendetta . . . Vendetta is a war, just as war is an indefinite series of vendettas; and such acts of vengeance are sanctioned by the gods".

In the ancient tribal Hebraic context, it was considered the duty of the individual and family to avenge evil on behalf of God. The executor of the law of blood-revenge who personally put the initial aggressive killer to death was given a special designation: go'el haddam, the blood-avenger or blood-redeemer (Num. 35: 19, etc.). Six cities of refuge

Cities of Refuge

The Cities of Refuge were towns in the Kingdom of Israel and Kingdom of Judah at which the perpetrators of manslaughter could claim the right of asylum; outside of these cities, blood vengeance against such perpetrators was allowed by law....
were established to provide a "cooling off" phase as well as due process for the accused. As the Oxford Companion to the Bible states: "Since life was viewed as sacred (Gen. 9.6), no amount of blood money could be given as recompense for the loss of the life of an innocent person; it had to be 'life for life'" (Exod. 21.23; Deut. 19.21)".

According to medievalist Marc Bloch

Marc Bloch

Marc L?opold Benjamin Bloch was a French historian of Middle Ages France, active in the period between the First and Second World Wars. Bloch was a founder of the Annales School....
, "The Middle Ages

Middle Ages

File:Karl 1 mit papst gelasius gregor1 sacramentar v karl d kahlen.jpgThe Middle Ages of European history are a period in history which lasted for roughly a millennium, commonly dated from the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century to the beginning of the Early Modern Period in the 16th century, marked by the division of Western Christi...
, from beginning to end, and particularly the feudal era, lived under the sign of private vengeance

Vengeance

Vengeance may refer to:In publications:*Vengeance , a character in the 1859 novel by Charles Dickens*Vengeance , by Scott Ciencin and Dan Jolley...
. The onus, of course, lay above all on the wronged individual; vengeance was imposed on him as the most sacred of duties ... The solitary individual, however, could do but little. Moreover, it was most commonly a death that had to be avenged. In this case the family group went into action and the faide (feud) came into being, to use the old Germanic word which spread little by little through the whole of Europe--'the vengeance of the kinsmen which we call faida, as a German canonist expressed it. No moral obligation seemed more sacred than this ... The whole kindred, therefore, placed as a rule under the command of a chieftain
Chieftain

Chieftain may refer to:The leader or head of a group:* a tribal chief or a village head.* a member of the 'House of chiefs'.* a captain , to which 'chieftain' is etymologically related....
, took up arms to punish the murder of one of its members or merely a wrong that he had suffered" (Marc Bloch
Marc Bloch

Marc L?opold Benjamin Bloch was a French historian of Middle Ages France, active in the period between the First and Second World Wars. Bloch was a founder of the Annales School....
, trans. L. A. Manyon, Feudal Society, Vol. I, 1965, p. 125-126).

The Celtic phenomenon of the blood feud demanded "an eye for an eye," and usually descended into murder. Disagreements between clan
Clan

A clan is a group of people united by kinship and descent, which is defined by actual or perceived descent from a common ancestor. Even if actual lineage patterns are unknown, clan members may nonetheless recognize a founding member or apical ancestor....
s might last for generations in Scotland
Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
and Ireland
Ireland

Ireland is the List of islands by area in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islet....
. Due to the Celtic heritage of many whites living in Appalachia
Appalachia

Appalachia is a term used to describe a cultural region in the Eastern United States United States that stretches from southern New York state to northern Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia ....
, a series of prolonged violent engagements in late- nineteenth-century Kentucky
Kentucky

The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a U.S. state located in the East Central United States of America. Kentucky is normally included in the group of Southern United States , but it is uncommonly included, geographically and culturally, in the Midwestern United States....
and West Virginia
West Virginia

West Virginia is a U.S. state in the Appalachian, Upland South, and Mid-Atlantic States regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia on the southeast, Kentucky on the southwest, Ohio on the northwest, and Pennsylvania and Maryland on the northeast....
were referred to commonly as feuds, a tendency that was partly due to the nineteenth-century popularity of William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was an English people poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's preeminent dramatist....
and Sir Walter Scott, authors who both wrote semihistorical accounts of blood feuds. These incidents, the most famous of which was the Hatfield-McCoy feud
Hatfield-McCoy feud

The Hatfield-McCoy feud is an account of American lore that has become a metaphor for bitterly feuding rival parties in general. It involved two warring families of the West Virginia-Kentucky backcountry along the Tug Fork River, off the Big Sandy River ....
, were regularly featured in the newspapers of the eastern U.S. between the 1880s and the early twentieth century. Although they were interpreted as such at the time, there is little reason to believe that these American incidents had any correlation to "feuding" in Europe centuries earlier.

Chariot racing
Chariot racing

Chariot racing was one of the most popular Ancient Greece, Roman Empire and Byzantine empire sports. Chariot racing was often dangerous to both driver and horse?they frequently suffered serious injury and even death?but generated strong spectator enthusiasm....
in the Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Empire

Byzantine Empire and Eastern Roman Empire are conventional names used to describe the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, centered on its capital of Constantinople....
also included the racing clubs. The Blues and the Greens were more than simply sports teams. They gained influence in military, political, and theological matters. The Blue-Green rivalry often erupted into gang warfare, and street violence had been on the rise in the reign of Justin I
Justin I

Flavius Iustinus , known in English as Justin I, was a List of Byzantine Emperors , who rose through the ranks of the army of the Byzantine Empire and ultimately became its emperor, in spite of the fact he was illiterate and almost seventy years old at the time of accession....
. Riots culminated in the Nika riots
Nika riots

The Nika riots , or Nika revolt, took place over the course of a week in Constantinople in 532. It was the most violent riot that Constantinople had ever seen to that point, with nearly half the city being burned or destroyed and tens of thousands of people killed....
of 532 AD during the reign of Justinian I
Justinian I

Flavius Petrus Sabbatius Iustinianus , AD 482 or 483 ? 13 or 14 November 565, was the second member of the Justinian Dynasty and List of Roman Emperors from 527 until his death....
, with nearly half the city being burned or destroyed and tens of thousands of people killed.

The Central Asia
Central Asia

Central Asia is a region of Asia from the Caspian Sea in the west to central China in the east, and from southern Russia in the north to northern India in the south....
n plateau (north of China
China

China is a Culture of China, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
) at the time of Genghis Khan
Genghis Khan

Genghis Khan , born , was the founder, Khan and Khagan of the Mongol Empire, the World's largest empires contiguous empire in history....
's youth was divided into several nomad
Nomad

Nomadic people, , also known as nomads, are communities of people who move from one place to another, rather than Settler in one location....
ic tribe
Tribe

A tribe, viewed historically or developmentally, consists of a social group existing before the development of, or outside of, states.Many anthropologists use the term to refer to societies organized largely on the basis of kinship, especially corporate descent groups ....
s or confederation
Confederation

Usually created by treaty but often later adopting a common constitution, confederations tend to be established for dealing with critical issues such as defense , foreign affairs, or a common currency, with the central government being required to provide support for all members....
s—among them Naimans
Naimans

The Naimans, also Naiman Turks or Naiman Mongols, was a Mongolian name given to a group of people dwelling on the steppe of Central Asia, having diplomatic relations with the Kara-Khitai, and subservient to them until 1177....
, Merkit
Merkit

The Merkit, Merged, or Mergid were a Turkic peoples or Mongol tribe with a fiercereputation that inhabited southeastern Siberia during the Middle Ages....
s, Uyghurs
Uyghur people

The Uyghur are a Turkic peoples of Central Asia. Many English speakers pronounce it as "wEEger" but the pronunciation "ooygOOr" is closer to native ....
, Tatars
Tatars

Tatars , sometimes spelled Tartars, refers to a Turkic people ethnic group mainly inhabiting Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Bulgaria, Romania, Lithuania, and Poland....
, Mongols
Mongols

The name Mongol specifies one or several ethnic groups, now mainly located in Mongolia, China, and Russia....
, and Keraits—that were all prominent in their own right and often unfriendly toward each other, as evidenced by frequent raids, revenges, and plundering.

In Japan
Japan

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....
's feudal past the Samurai
Samurai

is the term for the military nobility of Pre-industrial society Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character ? was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau....
class upheld the honor of their family, clan, or their lord by katakiuchi , or revenge killings. These killings could also involve the relatives of an offender. While some vendettas were punished by the government, such as that of the 47 Ronin, others were given official permission with specific targets.

At the Holy Roman Empire
Holy Roman Empire

The Holy Roman Empire was a union of territories in Central Europe during the Middle Ages and the Early modern Europe under a Holy Roman Emperor....
's Reichstag
Reichstag (institution)

The Reichstag was the parliament of the Holy Roman Empire, the North German Confederation, and of Germany until 1945. The main chamber of the German parliament is now called Bundestag , but the building in which it meets is still called "Reichstag" ....
at Worms
Worms, Germany

Worms is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Rhine River. At the end of 2004, it had 85,829 inhabitants.Established by the Celts who called it Borbetomagus, Worms today remains embattled with the cities Trier and Cologne over title of "Oldest City in Germany"....
in 1495 the right of waging feuds was abolished. The Imperial Reform
Imperial Reform

In 1495, an attempt was made at the Reichstag in the City of Worms, Germany to give the disintegrating Holy Roman Empire a new structure, commonly referred to as Imperial Reform ....
proclaimed an "eternal public peace" (Ewiger Landfriede) to put an end to the abounding feuds and the anarchy of the robber baron
Robber baron

The term robber baron dates back to the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. They abused their positions by stopping passing merchant ships and demanding wiktionary:toll without being authorized by the Holy Roman Emperor to do so....
s and it defined a new standing imperial army to enforce that peace. However, it took a few more decades until the new regulation was universally accepted. In 1506, for example, knight Jan Kopidlansky killed somebody in Prague
Prague

Prague is the Capital and World's largest cities of the Czech Republic. Its official name is Hlavn? mesto Praha, meaning Prague, the Capital City....
and the Town Councillors sentenced him to death and had him executed. Brother Jiri Kopidlansky revenged himself by continuing atrocities.

More than a third of the Ya¸nomamö
Ya¸nomamö

The Ya?nomam? are a large population of native people in South America. They reside in the Amazon rainforest, among the hills that line the border between Brazil and Venezuela....
males, on average, died from warfare
Prehistoric warfare

Prehistoric warfare is war conducted in the era before writing, and before the establishments of large social entities like states. Historical warfare sets in with the standing armies of Bronze Age Sumer, but prehistoric warfare may be studied in some societies at much later dates....
. The accounts of missionaries to the area have recounted constant infighting in the tribes for women or prestige, and evidence of continuous warfare for the enslavement of neighboring tribes such as the Macu before the arrival of European settlers and government.
The Clan Gordon
Clan Gordon

Clan Gordon, also known as the House of Gordon, is a traditional Scottish clan name and it is now a common forename. The chief of the Clan Gordon was the powerful Earl of Huntly, now also Marquess of Huntly....
was at one point one of the most powerful clans
Scottish clan

Scottish clans , give a sense of identity and shared descent to people in Scotland and to their relations throughout the world, with a formal structure of Scottish clan chiefs officially registered with the court of the Lord Lyon, King of Arms which controls the heraldry and Coat of Arms....
in middle Scotland
Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
. Clan feuds and battles were frequent, especially with the Clan Cameron
Clan Cameron

Clan Cameron is a West Highland Scottish clan, with one main branch Lochiel, and numerous cadet branches such as Erracht, Clunes, Glen Nevis, and Fassifern....
, Clan Murray
Clan Murray

Clan Murray is a Highland Scottish clan. The Murrays were a great and powerful clan whose lands and cadet houses were scattered throughout Scotland....
, Clan Forbes
Clan Forbes

Clan Forbes is a Scottish Lowlands Scottish clan from Aberdeenshire, Scotland....
, and the Chattan Confederation
Chattan Confederation

Clan Chattan or the Chattan Confederation is a confederation of 16 Scottish clans who joined for mutual defence or blood bonds and is closely linked with Clan Macpherson and Clan Mackintosh....
.

In Corsica
Corsica

Corsica is the Mediterranean islands#By area in the Mediterranean Sea . It is located west of Italy, southeast of the France mainland, and north of the island of Sardinia....
, vendetta was a social code that required Corsicans to kill anyone who wronged the family honor. It has been estimated that between 1683 and 1715, nearly 30,000 out of 120,000 Corsicans lost their lives to vendetta.

Throughout history, the Maniots
Maniots

The Maniots are the Greeks inhabitants of the Mani Peninsula located in the southern Peloponnese in the Greek Laconia and Messinia. They were also formerly known as Mainotes in English language and the peninsula as Maina....
—one of Greece
Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , is a country in southeastern Europe, situated on the southern end of the Balkans. It has borders with Albania, Bulgaria and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to the north, and Turkey to the east....
's toughest populations—have been known by their neighbors and their enemies as fearless warrior
Warrior

According to the Random House Dictionary, the term warrior has two meanings. The first Literal and figurative language use refers to "a person engaged or experienced in warfare." The second Literal and figurative language use refers to "a person who shows or has shown great vigor, courage, or aggressiveness, as in politics or athletics...
s who practice blood feuds
Maniots

The Maniots are the Greeks inhabitants of the Mani Peninsula located in the southern Peloponnese in the Greek Laconia and Messinia. They were also formerly known as Mainotes in English language and the peninsula as Maina....
. Some vendettas went on for months and sometimes years. The families involved would lock themselves in their towers and when they got the chance would murder members of the opposing family.

The Basque Country
Basque Country (historical territory)

The Basque Country as a cultural region is a European region in the western Pyrenees that spans the border between France and Spain, on the Atlantic Ocean coast....
in the Late Middle Ages
Late Middle Ages

The Late Middle Ages is a term used by historians to describe history of Europe in the periodization of the 14th and 15th centuries . The Late Middle Ages were preceded by the High Middle Ages, and followed by the Early modern Europe ....
was ravaged by bitter partisan wars between local ruling families. In Navarre
Navarre

Navarre is a region in northern Spain, constituting one of its autonomous communities in Spain - the "Foral Community of Navarre" ....
, these conflicts became polarised in a violent struggle between the Agramont and Beaumont parties. In Biscay
Biscay

Biscay is a province of the Basque Country in Spain.It is generally accepted that Bizkaia, the original Basque term, means something like 'mountain' or 'cliff'....
, the two major warring factions were named Oinaz and Gamboa. (Cf. the Guelphs and Ghibellines in Italy). High defensive structures ("towers") built by local noble families, few of which survive today, were frequently razed by fires, sometimes by royal decree.
Leontiy Lyulye, an expert on conditions in the Caucasus
Caucasus

The Caucasus or Caucas is a geopolitical region located between Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. It is home to Europe's highest mountain ....
, wrote in the mid-19th century: "Among the mountain people the blood feud is not an uncontrollable permanent feeling such as the vendetta is among the Corsicans. It is more like an obligation imposed by the public opinion." In the Dagestan
Dagestan

The Republic of Dagestan , older spelling Daghestan, is a federal subjects of Russia of the Russia ....
i aul
Aul

An aul is a type of fortified village found throughout the Caucasus mountains, especially in Dagestan. The auls of Svanetia , with their distinctive medieval towers, have been recognized as a World Heritage Site....
Kadar, one such blood feud between two antagonistic clans lasted for nearly 260 years, from the 17th century till the 1860s.

An alternative to feud was blood money (or weregild
Weregild

Weregild was a reparational payment usually demanded of a person guilty of homicide or other wrongful death claim, although it could also be demanded in other cases of serious crime....
in the Norse
Norsemen

Norsemen is used to refer to the group of people as a whole who speak one of the North Germanic languages as their native language. The meaning of Norseman was "people from the North" and was applied primarily to Nordic people originating from southern and central Scandinavia....
culture), which demanded payment of some kind from those responsible for a wrongful death (even an accidental one). If these payments were not made or were refused by the offended party, a blood feud would ensue.

Vendetta in modern times
Vendetta is reputedly still practiced in some areas in France
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
(especially Corsica
Corsica

Corsica is the Mediterranean islands#By area in the Mediterranean Sea . It is located west of Italy, southeast of the France mainland, and north of the island of Sardinia....
) and Italy
Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
(especially Sicily
Sicily

Sicily is an Autonomous regions with special statute of Italy. Of all the regions of Italy, Sicily covers the largest land area at 25,708 km? and currently has just over five million inhabitants....
, Sardinia
Sardinia

Sardinia is the Mediterranean islands#By area island in the Mediterranean Sea . The area of Sardinia is . The island is surrounded by the France island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Tunisia and the Balearic Islands....
, Campania
Campania

Campania is a Regions of Italy of southern Italy in Europe. The region has a population of around 5.8 million people, making it the second-most-populous region of Italy, its total area of 13,595 km? makes it the most densely populated region in the country....
, Calabria
Calabria

Calabria , is a Regions of Italy in Southern Italy Italy, south of Naples, located at the "toe" of the Italian peninsula. It is bounded to the north by the region of Basilicata, to the south-west by the region of Sicily, to the west by the Tyrrhenian Sea, and to the east by the Ionian Sea....
, Apulia
Apulia

Apulia is a region in southeastern Italy bordering the Adriatic Sea in the east, the Ionian Sea to the southeast, and the Strait of Otranto and Gulf of Taranto in the south....
, and other areas of Southern Italy), in Crete
Crete

Crete is the largest of the Greek islands and the List of islands in the Mediterranean largest island in the Mediterranean Sea at 8,336 km? ....
(Greece
Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , is a country in southeastern Europe, situated on the southern end of the Balkans. It has borders with Albania, Bulgaria and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to the north, and Turkey to the east....
), among Kurdish
Kurdish people

The Kurds are an Iranian peoples ethnolinguistic group mostly inhabiting a region that includes adjacent parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey and which is known as Kurdistan....
clans in Iraq
Iraq

Iraq , officially the Republic of Iraq , is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros Mountains, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
and Turkey
Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in southwest Asia and Thrace in the Balkans region of Southern Europe....
, in northern Albania
Albania

Albania , officially the Republic of Albania , is a country in Balkans. It is bordered by Greece to the south-east, Montenegro to the north, Kosovo to the northeast, and the Republic of Macedonia to the east....
, among Pashtuns in Afghanistan
Afghanistan

Afghanistan , officially the Islamic republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country that is located approximately in the center of Asia....
, among Somali clans, over land in Nigeria
Nigeria

Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federation constitutional republic comprising States of Nigeria and one Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria....
, in India
India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
(a caste
Caste

Castes are hereditary systems of wikt:occupation, endogamy, culture, social class, and political power, the assignment of individuals to places in the social hierarchy is determined by social group and culture....
-related feuds among rival Hindu groups), between rival tribes in the north-east India
India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
n state of Assam
Assam

Assam ) is a North-East India state of India with its capital at Dispur, in the outskirts of the city Guwahati. Located south of the eastern Himalayas, Assam comprises the Brahmaputra and the Barak River river valleys and the Karbi Anglong District and the North Cachar Hills with an area of 30,285 square miles ....
, among rival clans in China
China

China is a Culture of China, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
and Philippines
Philippines

The Philippines, officially known as the Republic of the Philippines, is a country in Southeast Asia with Manila as its capital city. It comprises 7,107 islands in the western Pacific Ocean....
, among the Arab Bedouins and Arab
Arab

An Arab is a person who Identity as such on linguistic or cultural grounds. The plural form, Arabs , refers to the Ethnocultural group at large....
tribes inhabiting the mountains of Yemen
Yemen

Yemen , officially the Republic of Yemen is an Arab country located on the Arabian Peninsula in Southwest Asia. Yemen has an estimated population of more than 23 million people and is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the North, the Red Sea to the West, the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Aden to the South, and Oman to the east....
and between Shiites and Sunnis in Iraq
Iraq

Iraq , officially the Republic of Iraq , is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros Mountains, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
, in southern Ethiopia
Ethiopia

Ethiopia , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country situated in the Horn of Africa. Ethiopia is bordered by Eritrea to the north, Sudan to the west, Kenya to the south, Somalia to the east and Djibouti to the northeast....
, among the highland tribes of New Guinea
New Guinea

New Guinea, located just north of Australia, is the List of islands by area, having become separated from the Australian mainland when the area now known as the Torres Strait flooded after the last glacial period....
, in Svaneti
Svaneti

Svaneti or Svanetia is a historic province in Georgia , in the northwestern part of the country. It is inhabited by the Svan people, an ethnic subgroup of the Georgians....
, in the mountainous areas of Dagestan
Dagestan

The Republic of Dagestan , older spelling Daghestan, is a federal subjects of Russia of the Russia ....
, many northern areas of Georgia
Georgia (country)

Georgia is a transcontinental country in the Caucasus region, located at the dividing line between Europe and Asia. It is bordered by the Russia to the north, Azerbaijan to the east, Armenia to the south, and Turkey to the southwest....
and Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan , is the largest and most populous country in the South Caucasus, located partially in Eastern Europe and partially in Western Asia....
, a number of republics of the northern Caucasus
Caucasus

The Caucasus or Caucas is a geopolitical region located between Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. It is home to Europe's highest mountain ....
and essentially among Chechen
Chechen people

Chechens constitute the largest native ethnic group originating in the North Caucasus region. They refer to themselves as Nokhchii , which comes from the name of a large Chechen teip, the Nokhchmekhkakhoi, and their homeland....
teip
Teip

Teip is a Chechnya tribe organization or clan, self-identified through descent from a common ancestor and geographic location. There are about 130 teips ....
s where those seeking retribution do not accept or respect the local law enforcement authority. Vendettas are generally abetted by a perceived or actual indifference on behalf of local law enforcement. In Albania
Albania

Albania , officially the Republic of Albania , is a country in Balkans. It is bordered by Greece to the south-east, Montenegro to the north, Kosovo to the northeast, and the Republic of Macedonia to the east....
, the blood feud has returned in rural areas after more than 40 years of being abolished by Albanian communists led by Enver Hoxha
Enver Hoxha

, was the authoritarian leader of the People's Republic of Albania from the end of World War II until his death in 1985, as the Secretary General of the Communism Albanian Party of Labour....
. More than 5,500 Albanian families are currently engaged in blood feuds. There are now more than 20,000 men and boys who live under an ever-present death sentence because of blood feuds. Since 1992, at least 10,000 Albanians
Albanians

The Albanian people , from southeast Europe, live in Albania and neighbouring countries and speak the Albanian language. About half of Albanians live in Albania, with other large groups residing in Kosovo, the Republic of Macedonia, Serbia, and Montenegro....
have been killed due to blood feuds.

Mutual vendetta may develop into a vicious circle of further killings
Murder

Murder as defined in common law countries, is the unlawful killing of another human being with intent , and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide....
, retaliation, counterattacks, and all-out war
War

...
fare that can end in the mutual extinction of both families. Often the original cause is forgotten, and feuds continue simply because it is perceived that there has always been a feud.

There is a scene in The Godfather
The Godfather

The Godfather is an Cinema of the United States crime film film based on the The Godfather by Mario Puzo and directed by Francis Ford Coppola from a screenplay by Puzo, Coppola, and Robert Towne, who was not credited....
, in which Michael Corleone
Michael Corleone

Don Michael Corleone is a fictional character in Mario Puzo's novels, The Godfather and The Sicilian. He is also the main character of the film trilogy that was directed by Francis Ford Coppola, in which he was portrayed by Al Pacino....
, hiding from U.S. police in Sicily
Sicily

Sicily is an Autonomous regions with special statute of Italy. Of all the regions of Italy, Sicily covers the largest land area at 25,708 km? and currently has just over five million inhabitants....
, walks through a village with his two bodyguards. Michael asks, "Where are all the men?" The bodyguard replies, "They're all dead from vendettas."

Some of the gang war
Gang War

Gang War is a 1928 gangster film, best known for being the main feature attached to "Steamboat Willie," the debut of Mickey Mouse in sound....
s between organized crime
Organized crime

Organized crime or criminal organizations comprise groups or operations run by crimes, most commonly for the purpose of generating a money profit....
groups are effectively forms of vendetta, where the criminal organization (like the Mafia
Mafia

The Mafia is a Sicily criminal society which is believed to have emerged in late 19th century Sicily. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct....
"family") has taken the place of blood relatives.

Famous blood feuds
Njál's saga
Njál's saga

Nj?ls saga is arguably the most famous of the Sagas of Icelanders. Among Icelanders, the saga is most often referred to simply as Nj?la....
, an Icelandic account of a Norse
Norsemen

Norsemen is used to refer to the group of people as a whole who speak one of the North Germanic languages as their native language. The meaning of Norseman was "people from the North" and was applied primarily to Nordic people originating from southern and central Scandinavia....
blood feud
The Percy–Neville feud
Percy-Neville feud

The Percy-Neville feud was a series of skirmishes, raids and vandalism between two prominent northern English families and their followers that helped provoke the Wars of the Roses....
(1450s; England
England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
)
The Wars of the Roses
Wars of the Roses

The Wars of the Roses were a series of dynastic civil wars fought in England between supporters of the Houses of House of Lancaster and House of York....
(1455–1487; England
England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
)
The Campbell
Clan Campbell

Clan Campbell is historically one of the largest, most powerful and most successful of the Scottish Highlands Scottish clans....
–MacDonald feud, including the Massacre of Glencoe
Massacre of Glencoe

The Massacre of Glencoe occurred in Glen Coe, Scotland, in the early morning of 13 February, 1692, during the era of the "Glorious Revolution" and Jacobitism....
(1692; Scotland
Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
)
The Battle of the North Inch
Battle of the North Inch

The Battle of the North Inch was a hostile encounter that occurred in 1396 in Perth, Scotland, Scotland, on what is the city's present-day Perth, Scotland#North Inch....
, Michaelmas
Michaelmas

Michaelmas, the feast of Michael is a day in the Christian calendar which occurs on 29 September. Because it falls near the equinox, it is associated in the northern hemisphere with the beginning of autumn and the shortening of days....
, 1396, Scotland
Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
; a set-piece inter-clan "battle to the death" between 30 members each of two long-feuding rival clans of the Clan Chattan Confederation, Clan MacPherson
Macpherson

MacPherson or Macpherson can refer to:*Clan Macpherson, a Scottish clan*MacPherson strut, a car suspension system*Macpherson, Singapore...
and Clan Davidson
Davidson

Davidson is the name of:* Davidson * Davidson Media Group* Davidson Seamount, undersea mountain southwest of Monterey, California, USA* Tyler Davidson Fountain, monument in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA...
; staging the event received royal and legal approval citing the Scottish concept of trial by combat; the battle of fictionalised in the novel The Fair Maid of Perth
The Fair Maid of Perth

The Fair Maid of Perth is a novel by Walter Scott. It is set in the 14th Century in Perth, Scotland and other parts of Scotland. It was first published on 15 May 1828....
by Sir Walter Scott, in which one combattant for the MacPhersons, the blacksmith Henry Gow
GOW

GOW may refer to:* Grapes of Wrath, a classic novel published in 1939 and written by John Steinbeck* Gears of War, a third-person shooter video game developed by Epic Games for the Xbox 360...
or Hal O' The Wynd, was immortalised.
The revenge of the Forty-seven Ronin
Forty-seven Ronin

The revenge of the , also known as the Forty-seven Samurai, the Ako vendetta, or the took place in Japan at the start of the eighteenth century....
(1701; Japan
Japan

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....
)
The Donnelly–Biddulph community feud
Black Donnellys

The Black Donnellys is the common nickname of the Donnelly family who emigrated from County Tipperary, Ireland, to Canada in about 1845-1846, and who participated in a notorious feud in Biddulph Township, Ontario in Middlesex County, Ontario, Ontario, Canada, which culminated in a massacre in which five family members were killed....
(1857-1880; Ontario
Ontario

Ontario is a Provinces and territories of Canada located in the Central Canada part of Canada, the largest by population and second largest, after Quebec, in total area....
, Canada
Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
)
The Lincoln County War
Lincoln County War

The Lincoln County War was a 19th century conflict between two entrenched factions in American Old West. The "war" was between a faction led by wealthy ranchers and another faction led by the wealthy owners of the monopoly general store in Lincoln County, New Mexico....
(1878-1881; New Mexico
New Mexico

New Mexico is a U. S. State located in the Southwestern United States of the United States. Inhabited by Native Americans in the United States populations for many centuries, it has also has been part of the Spanish Empire viceroyalty of New Spain, part of Mexico, and a U.S....
, USA)
The Clanton/McLaury–Earp feud
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral

The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral was a gunfight that happened at about 3 P.M. on Wednesday, October 26, 1881. The famous gunfight did not actually occur at the O.K....
(see also Earp Vendetta Ride
Earp vendetta ride

The Earp Vendetta Ride was a three-week clash between personal enemies and law enforcement parties from different jurisdictions in the Arizona Territory, from March 20 to April 15, 1882....
), also known as the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1881; Arizona
Arizona

The State of Arizona is a U.S. state located in the Southwestern United States of the United States. The capital and largest city is Phoenix, Arizona....
, USA)
The Hatfield–McCoy feud
Hatfield-McCoy feud

The Hatfield-McCoy feud is an account of American lore that has become a metaphor for bitterly feuding rival parties in general. It involved two warring families of the West Virginia-Kentucky backcountry along the Tug Fork River, off the Big Sandy River ....
(1878–1891; West Virginia
West Virginia

West Virginia is a U.S. state in the Appalachian, Upland South, and Mid-Atlantic States regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia on the southeast, Kentucky on the southwest, Ohio on the northwest, and Pennsylvania and Maryland on the northeast....
& Kentucky
Kentucky

The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a U.S. state located in the East Central United States of America. Kentucky is normally included in the group of Southern United States , but it is uncommonly included, geographically and culturally, in the Midwestern United States....
, USA)
The Pleasant Valley War
Pleasant Valley War

The Pleasant Valley War was an Arizona range war between two feuding families, the cattle-herding Grahams and the sheep-herding Tewksburys. Many of the events in the feud took place in Apache County, Arizona, and in Navajo County, Arizona....
, also known as the Tonto Basin Feud (1882–1892; Arizona
Arizona

The State of Arizona is a U.S. state located in the Southwestern United States of the United States. The capital and largest city is Phoenix, Arizona....
, USA)
The Capone
Al Capone

Alphonse Gabriel "Al" Capone , commonly nicknamed "Scarface", was an Italian-American gangster who led a crime syndicate dedicated to smuggling and Rum-running of alcoholic beverage and other illegal activities during the Prohibition in the United States Era of the 1920s and 1930s....
–Moran
Bugs Moran

George Clarence "Bugs" Moran was a Chicago Prohibition-era gangster born in St. Paul, Minnesota, Minnesota. Moran, of Poles-Irish people descent, moved to the North side of Chicago when he was 19 and was affiliated with several gangs while being incarcerated three times before turning 21....
feud, including the St. Valentine's Day massacre
St. Valentine's Day massacre

The Saint Valentine's Day massacre is the name given to the death of seven people as part of a Prohibition in the United States conflict between two powerful criminal gangs in Chicago, Illinois, in the winter of 1929: the Neighborhoods of Chicago Italian American gang led by Al Capone and the Neighborhoods of Chicago Irish American gang led...
(1925–1930; Chicago, Illinois, USA)
The Castellammarese War
Castellammarese War

The Castellammarese War was a bloody power struggle for control of the Italian-American mafia between partisans of Joe Masseria and those of Salvatore Maranzano....
(1929–1931; New York City
New York City

The City of New York is the List of United States cities by population in the United States, while the New York metropolitan area ranks among the List of urban areas by population....
, USA)
The Gunn
Clan Gunn

Clan Gunn is a Scottish clan associated with northeastern Scotland, including Caithness and Sutherland as well as the Orkney Islands.The clan's origins stretch over the sea to Norway, and the Clan Gunn themselves claim descent from the legendary Sweyn Asleifsson, the so-called 'Ultimate Viking', the progenitor of the clan, and through his gr...
–Keith
Clan Keith

Clan Keith is a Scottish clan associated with lands in northeastern and northwestern Scotland....
feud
The Talbot
Viscount Lisle

The title of Viscount Lisle has been created six times in the Peerage of England. The first creation, on 30 October 1451, was for John Talbot, 1st Viscount Lisle....
–Berkeley
Baron Berkeley

The title Baron Berkeley has been created twice in the Peerage of England, both times by Hereditary peer#Writs of summons. It was first granted to Sir Thomas de Berkeley in 1295, but the title of that creation became extinct at the death of the fifth Baron, when no heirs to the barony remained....
feud
The Great Mafia War
Second Mafia War

The Second Mafia War was a conflict within the Sicily Mafia, mostly taking place in the early 1980s. As with any criminal organization, the history of the Sicilian Mafia is replete with conflicts and power struggles, and the violence that results from them, but these are generally localised and short term....
(1981–1983; Sicily
Sicily

Sicily is an Autonomous regions with special statute of Italy. Of all the regions of Italy, Sicily covers the largest land area at 25,708 km? and currently has just over five million inhabitants....
, Italy
Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
)
The Feud of Scampia (2004–2005; Naples
Naples

Naples is a city in southern Italy, the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples. The city is known for its rich history, art, culture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,800 years old....
, Italy)

Fictional blood feuds

a short story by Saki
Saki

Hector Hugh Munro , better known by the pen name Saki, was a United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland writer, whose witty and sometimes macabre stories satirized Edwardian period society and culture....
, is a multi-generational feud between the families of Georg Znaeym and Ulrich von Gradwitz.

The Atreides
House Atreides

House Atreides is a fictional nobility from the Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. One of the Great Houses of the feudal interstellar empire known as the Imperium, its members play a role in every novel in the series....
–Harkonnen
House Harkonnen

House Harkonnen is a powerful nobility in Frank Herbert's fictional Dune universe. The Harkonnens are featured prominently in the original 1965 novel Dune , and are also a major presence both the Prelude to Dune and Legends of Dune prequel trilogy by Brian Herbert and Kevin J....
feud from Frank Herbert
Frank Herbert

Franklin Patrick Herbert, Jr. was a critically acclaimed and commercially successful American list of science fiction authors. Although also a short story author, he is best known for his novels, most notably Dune and its five sequels....
's Dune (novel)
Dune (novel)

Dune is a science fiction novel written by Frank Herbert, published in 1965 in literature. It was the winner of the 1966 Hugo Award and the inaugural Nebula Award for Best Novel, and is considered by some to be the greatest science fiction novel of all time....
The Corleone
Vito Corleone

Vito Andolini Corleone, known by his alias The Godfather, is a fictional character in Mario Puzo's novel The Godfather , as well as Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather based on it....
–Tattaglia feud from Mario Puzo
Mario Puzo

Mario Gianluigi Puzo was a two time Academy Award-winning Italian American author and screenwriter, known for his novels about the Mafia, especially The Godfather , which he later co-adapted into The Godfather with Francis Ford Coppola....
's The Godfather
The Godfather

The Godfather is an Cinema of the United States crime film film based on the The Godfather by Mario Puzo and directed by Francis Ford Coppola from a screenplay by Puzo, Coppola, and Robert Towne, who was not credited....
The Montague–Capulet feud, from Shakespeare's
William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was an English people poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's preeminent dramatist....
Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet is a Shakespearean tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young "Star-crossed" whose untimely deaths ultimately unite their feuding families....
The Grangerford–Shepherdson feud, from Mark Twain
Mark Twain

Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an United Statesmerican author and humorist. Twain is most noted for his novels Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which has since been called the Great American Novel, and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer....
's Huckleberry Finn.
The Barnes–Ewing feud, from the soap opera Dallas
Dallas (TV series)

Dallas is a long-running United States prime-time television program soap opera that originally ran from 1978 to 1991. It revolved around the Ewings, a wealthy Texas family in the oil and cattle-ranching industries....
The Kryeqyqe–Berisha feud, from Ismail Kadare
Ismail Kadare

Ismail Dukudu Kadare is a world reknown Albanian writer/novelist. In 1992, he was awarded the Prix mondial Cino Del Duca; in 2005, he won the inaugural Man Booker International Prize....
's novel, Broken April
The DiMera–Brady
Brady

The name Brady in Ireland is derived from the Irish language name Mac Bradaigh meaning 'spirited'. So the anglicised form should be MacBrady, the prefix Mac, however, has seldom if ever been used in modern times; the modern use of the prefix O instead of Mac with this name is erroneous....
feud, from the soap opera Days of our Lives
Days of our Lives

Days of our Lives is an United States soap opera, which has aired nearly every weekday since November 8, 1965 on the NBC network in the United States, and has since been syndicated to many countries around the world....
The Karahasan–Mitrevski feud, from the movie Odmazda ("Vengeance"), a multi-generational feud between a Turkish
Turkish people

The Turkish people , also known as "Turks" are defined mainly as citizens of the Republic of Turkey. An early history text provided the definition of being a Turk as "any individual within the Republic of Turkey, whatever his faith who speaks Turkish, grows up with Turkish culture and adopts the Turkish ideal is a Turk." This ideal...
and Slav-Macedonian
Macedonians (ethnic group)

The Macedonians also referred to as Macedonian Slavs are a South Slavs people who are primarily associated with the Republic of Macedonia....
family.
The Pollock–Maugg feud, from the computer role-playing game Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura
Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura

Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura is a computer role-playing game. Game development by Troika Games and published by Sierra Entertainment, it was released in August 2001....
.
The Heathcliff
Heathcliff

Heathcliff may refer to:* Heathcliff , the central character from the novel Wuthering Heights by Emily Bront?** Heathcliff , a musical based on the book Wuthering Heights...
–Linton family feud from Wuthering Heights
Wuthering Heights

Wuthering Heights is Emily Bront?'s only novel. It was first published in 1847 under the pseudonym Ellis Bell, and a posthumous second edition was edited by her sister Charlotte Bront?....
The Robinson-Ramsay family feud from Australian soap Neighbours
Neighbours

Neighbours is a long-running multiple Logie Award-winning Australian soap opera, which first aired in March 1985. The series follows the daily lives of several families who live in the six houses at the end of Ramsay Street, a short cul-de-sac in the fictional middle-class suburb of Erinsborough....

Hip-hop feuds
See Hip-hop feud

Hip-hop feud

Hip-hop feudsIn modern hip-hop, rappers notoriously engage in verbal warfare with one another. Even though these feuds are seen by some as publicity stunts, none the less they occasionally spill over into actual violence and sometimes murder....

Wrestling feuds
In professional wrestling
Professional wrestling

Professional wrestling, or pro wrestling, is a non-competitive professional sport, where matches are prearranged by the Professional wrestling promotion List of professional wrestling terms#B, and is also considered an athletic performing art, containing strong elements of catch wrestling, mock combat and theatre....
, a feud is a staged disagreement between two wrestlers or factions.

Football rivalries

Literature

Jonas Grutzpalk: Blood Feud and Modernity. Max Weber's and Émile Durkheim's Theory. In: Journal of Classical Sociology 2 (2002); p. 115-134.

See also

Black Donnellys
Black Donnellys

The Black Donnellys is the common nickname of the Donnelly family who emigrated from County Tipperary, Ireland, to Canada in about 1845-1846, and who participated in a notorious feud in Biddulph Township, Ontario in Middlesex County, Ontario, Ontario, Canada, which culminated in a massacre in which five family members were killed....
Clan
Clan

A clan is a group of people united by kinship and descent, which is defined by actual or perceived descent from a common ancestor. Even if actual lineage patterns are unknown, clan members may nonetheless recognize a founding member or apical ancestor....
Code duello
Code duello

A code duello is a set of rules for a one-on-one combat, or duel.Codes duello regulate dueling and thus help prevent vendettas between families and other social factions....
Mafia
Mafia

The Mafia is a Sicily criminal society which is believed to have emerged in late 19th century Sicily. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct....
Blood Law
Blood Law

Blood Law is the practice in traditional American Indians in the United States customary law where responsibility for seeing that homicide is punished falls on the clan of the victim....
Blood money
Blood money (term)

Blood money is money paid as a fine to the next of kin of somebody who was killed intentionally....
Gang violence
San Luca feud
San Luca feud

The San Luca feud or Vendetta of San Luca is a long running conflict between two Italian organized crime gangs that began in 1991 in Italy's Calabria in the village of San Luca....
Bedouin blood feud
Bedouin systems of justice

Legal systems of the world among the Bedouin are varied among the tribes. A number of these systems date from Pre-Islamic Arabia, and hence do not follow Sharia ....
Scottish clan
Scottish clan

Scottish clans , give a sense of identity and shared descent to people in Scotland and to their relations throughout the world, with a formal structure of Scottish clan chiefs officially registered with the court of the Lord Lyon, King of Arms which controls the heraldry and Coat of Arms....
Violence
Violence

Violence is the expression of physical force against self or other, compelling action against one's will on pain of being hurt. Variant uses of the term refer to the destruction of non-living objects ....
Vigilantism
Sectarianism
Sectarianism

Sectarianism is bigotry, discrimination, prejudice or hatred arising from attaching importance to perceived differences between subdivisions within a group, such as between different denominations of a religion or the factions of a political movement....
Kanun
Revenge
Revenge

Revenge is a harmful action against a person or group as a response to a wrongdoing. Although many aspects of revenge resemble the concept of justice, revenge connotes a more injurious and punishment focus as opposed to a harmonious and restorative one....
Punti-Hakka Clan Wars
Punti-Hakka Clan Wars

Punti-Hakka Clan Wars or Hakka-Punti Clan Wars refers to battles or conflicts between the Hakka and the Punti in Guangdong , China, between 1855 and 1867, during the Qing Dynasty....
Pashtunwali
Pashtunwali

Pashtunwali or Pakhtunwali is a concept of living or philosophy for the Pashtun people and is regarded as an honour code and a non-written law for the people....
Honour killing

War Before Civilization
War Before Civilization

In his book War Before Civilization, Lawrence H. Keeley, an archeology professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, says that 87% of tribal societies were at war more than once per year, and some 65% of them were fighting continuously, without defining what he means by a tribal society....
Crow Creek massacre
Crow Creek massacre

The Crow Creek massacre occurred in the early 14th century between American Indian groups in the South Dakota area. Crow Creek Site, the site of the massacre near Chamberlain, South Dakota, is an archaeological site and a U.S....
Gjakmarrja (Albanian blood feuds)
Gjakmarrja

In line with Albania's ancient social code known as Kanuni i Lek? Dukagjinit or simply Kanun , someone is allowed to kill another person to avenge an earlier murder....
List of cities with defensive walls
List of cities with defensive walls

The following cities have, or have had, defensive walls....
List of famous duels
List of famous duels

The following is a list of famous duels....
Sports rivalry
Sports rivalry

A sports rivalry is intense competition between athletic teams or athletes. This pressure of competition is felt by players, coaches, and management, but is perhaps felt strongest by the fan s....

External links

May, 2005, One of the most enduring and bloody family feuds of modern times in Upper Egypt has ended with a tense ceremony of humiliation and forgiveness. Police are very edgy. After lengthy peace talks, no one knows if the penance - and a large payment of blood money - will end the vendetta which began in 1991 with a children's fight.