Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities Vol. 1, No. 5, 2015, pp. 495-498 http://www.aiscience.org/journal/jssh * Corresponding author E-mail address: enfrankie@yahoo.com Premodern Systems of Punishment for Offences in Ikom Traditional Society, Cross River State, Nigeria Frank N. Enor * Department of History & International Studies, Faculty of Arts, University of Calabar, Calabar, Nigeria Abstract 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. Keywords Offences, Punishment, Traditional Society, Oral Accounts, Pre-modern Received: July 15, 2015 / Accepted: August 15, 2015 / Published online: October 16, 2015 @ 2015 The Authors. Published by American Institute of Science. This Open Access article is under the CC BY-NC license. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 1. Introduction In the context of this presentation, Ikom refers to Ekpache- Nkome traditional communities of Asenasen, Bokomo, Bisogho, Enoghi, Etayip, Isabang and Mgbagatiti, who speak “remu Ekpach-Ikom” or a common language which has been identified by Okon Essien (1990) as belonging to the Cross River variety. Others in this category are the Adijinkpor I and II and Agbokim Mgbabo all occupying the right bank of the Cross River from the Cameroun. The Ekpache-Ikom, who trace their migration from two directions, the Oban forest and the Nigerian Cameroun border in the general areas of their present abode have long before the 1840s conglomerated at the right bank of the Cross River with an elaborate socio-political organization headed by Okim Emang, or the supreme head of their political organization. Other institutions of the people includes the Okwa, the judicial arm of pre-modern government, the Mgbe which performed both executive and entertainment functions and social clubs like, Ebrambi and Ikarum all performing masculine societal functions. The Ikom are a semi Bantu stock (Talbot, 1969). Traditionally, the Ikom are agricultural communities with kin and kith lineage groups spread across many political divisions in the upper part of the Cross River to the Cameroun republic. It is pertinent to note that what is today part of the republic of Cameroun share a common historical and cultural affinities with the people of upper Cross River (Sterk,1988). The incidence of colonialism initiated the concept of border, a legal concept which demarcates sovereign nation-states. Pre-modern societies did not observe clear cut demarcations as we have them today. Borders are artificial creation of colonial regimes which interest undermined the socio-cultural and other connections which wielded pre-colonial peoples of Africa. The intensification of these affinities in colonial and post-colonial times as expressed in smuggling among other activities across borders