One of the most striking aspects of this is the flexibility which is inherent in the legal system. The laws can be changed at anytime if the clan are becoming dissatisfied with them. Thus, when Okonkwo breaks the Week of Peace by beating his wife, he suffers no more punishment than being forced to make an offering to the goddess of the earth. The older men in the village are discussing how lenient the laws have become when we are informed:.
"It has not always been so", he said. "My father told me that he had been told that in the past a man who broke the peace was dragged on the ground through the village until he died. But after a while this custom was stopped because it spoilt the peace it was supposed to preserve. (TFA, p.28).
As well as illustrating the willingness of the clan to change their laws if they feel the need, this also shows that violence is only permitted if there is a real purpose to it. We are told that Umuofia "never went to war unless its case was clear and just and was accepted as such by its Oracle." (TFA, p.11). So, we see that the people bow to superior forces when faced with decisions that could cause people to lose their lives. This is also seen with regard to the system of judiciary that is found in the clan. The judges are the egwugwu, or the ancestral spirits of the village. The people of the village have a profound fear of the spirits, and trust them to be fair and just in their judgements. The spirits have a power that no ordinary man can have and as such some men will listen to no other judgement.
"I don't know why such a trifle should come before the egwugwu," said one elder to another.
"Don't you know what kind of a man Uzowulu is? He will not listen to any other decision", replied the other. (TFA, p.83) .
However, by the time we reach Obi's generation in No Longer at Ease, his trial is completely under the British system of justice. Indeed, by the end of Things Fall Apart we see that cases have begun to be judged "in ignorance" (p.
