ANN ARBOR—Revenge is justice when it honors its commitment to getting even in a proportional manner, according to a University of Michigan law professor.

In his new book,” Eye for an Eye,” William Ian Miller, the Thomas G. Long Professor of Law, takes a historical look at justice as getting even, which involved setting values on harms and wrongs, and then paying for them.

“An eye for an eye, if you think about it, states a price,” said Miller, an expert on legal history, theory and philosophy.” It is compensatory, not punitive. It values my eye as you value yours. Before laws took the form of ‘Thou shalt not,’ they seem to have largely taken the form of ‘for X pay Y’ or ‘for X pay X.'”

Justice is always understood to involve ideas of paying, paying back and discharging debts. Payback is what justice is at its core, and thus that revenge, as long as it meets the principle of proportionality of getting even, is justice, Miller said.

Some ancient societies and cultures believed victims or their families must be compensated appropriately either with goods that we can still think of as money, or with bodies and body parts, working as money. For example, in the seventh century, King Aethelberht of Kent prescribed 10 shillings’ compensation for a lost big toe. Individuals could also work off their debts if they couldn’t negotiate some other form of payment, he said.

“The body was employed to serve the standard money functions of measuring value, and, sometimes, too, of providing the means of payment,” he said.” You might have to pay yourself over to pay for the wrongs you did or the debts you could not pay.”

When revenge wasn’t proportionate to the wrongdoing, some cultures viewed the acts as lacking honor.

“We are very excited about every aspect of this project,” said Francis Blouin, director of the Bentley.” For the first time we are able to deliver an entire set of related archival collections to our users via the Internet. There is interest all over the world in this small chapter of a very big story.”

“Revenge societies were as alarmed by people who went postal as we are,” he said.

Miller writes about” honor cultures,” which have a sense of justice and value for life. This culture is common today, from the playgrounds to workplace. Even at the office, people find ways to retaliate, not in blood obviously, but with gossip, backbiting and innuendo when they feel slighted, Miller said.

Related Links:

• More on Prof. Miller