[01] Frank N. Enor, Department of History & International Studies, Faculty of Arts, University of Calabar, Calabar, Nigeria.

Crime is as old as society itself; and criminal acts range from minor household offences like theft, burglary, adultery to heinous crimes like murder, manslaughter and so on. Punishment for crimes range from flogging with the cane to hanging depending on the enormity of the offence committed. This paper has adopted the historical narrative approach to showcase various forms of criminal acts and punishment in the pre-modern Ikom society in the Cross River Region of Nigeria. The material for this paper largely derives from oral accounts of knowledgeable elders in the various communities. The paper debunks the pejorative references to pre-modern societies as barbaric and lawless. Indeed, the modern system of punishment for crime, the paper contends, is an adaptation from pre-modern forms.

Offences, Punishment, Traditional Society, Oral Accounts, Pre-modern

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