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10 J. Int'l L. & Econ. 183 (1975)
IFOGA: The Concept of Public Apology, the Family, and the Law in American Samoa

handle is hein.journals/gwilr10 and id is 189 raw text is: IFOGA: THE CONCEPT OF PUBLIC APOLOGY, THE FAMILY, AND THE LAW IN AMERICAN SAMOA WILLIAM J. STEWART* The family of one who has accidentally or purposefully caused physical injury to a member of another family may play a very definite role in the criminal or civil justice aspect of life in the territory of American Samoa. The closeness of the extended and nuclear family in Samoa is probably without parallel in most American communities on the mainland. The closeness is such that when one member of a family commits a wrong, the entire family is literally shamed to such a degree that it may be thought prudent to perform a public apology en masse. The nature of this public apology and its-sanc- tions under the law in American Samoa should be of interest to those who are concerned with strengthening the integrity of the American family, because familial solidarity is not just a hollow phrase in this tiny bit of America fourteen degrees south of the equator. A natural, though probably unintended, by-product of the concept of ifoga is that it has the effect of bringing the members of the nuclear and extended family closer together after a member of one family has committed a wrong upon a member of another family. It would be difficult to participate in an ifoga, either as a member of the family making or receiving the apology without experiencing the bonds of familial solidarity. Attorneys practic- ing personal injury or criminal law in mainland America are con- stant witnesses to the fact that punishment in the case of a crime or damages in the case of a tort are often woefully inadequate tokens in easing the sorrow of the victim or his family or in reha- bilitating the offender. Money damages for the wrongful death of a minor child, for example, do not begin to compensate for loss of the child and do nothing to ease the natural feelings of ill will toward the tortfeasor often experienced by the decedent's parents or siblings. Similarly, as money damages frequently come from * B.S., U.S. Naval Academy, 1963; J.D., Cal. Western School of Law, 1970; Law Clerk to Chief Justice Donald H. Crothers, High Court of American Samoa, 1971-1972; Member, District of Columbia, California and American Samoa Bars; Associate, Arch- bald, Zelezny & Spray, Santa Barbara, Cal.

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