Laws could only be passed by a consensus of the upper and lower legislative bodies. The Great Sun and other members of the bureaucracy could only announce the laws, arrest the accused and hold trials. Evidently, apprehension of the accused was a responsibility of the clan in which an accused was a member. Punishments were carried out by members of the House of Warriors, who were also members of the convicted person's or aggrieved person's clan.
Trials involving civil cases or minor criminal offenses were held by heneha’s . The word is still used today in modern Muskogee. The heneha’s were professional circuit judges, who were knowledgeable in the laws passed by the councils, judicial precedent, and possibly, the Muskogee syllabary. They were probably members of a special society or guild that trained apprentices. They traveled around the province from village to village to hear cases. One of their primary functions was to prevent chaos erupting out in the boonies from family feuds.
Muskogean laws were a little different than contemporary American laws, since their main concern was the continued peace of the community. Since they were communal societies, the concept of theft of personal property was vague. As long as you returned a personal item that you took without asking, it was not a crime. Sexual intercourse between single adults was considered normal. Adultery was punished the first time by mutilation of the face, and the second time by execution. Divorces could be granted quickly by either the heneha or oratv, if either husband or wife wanted a permanent separation. The main requirement was that an uncle in the mother’s clan agreed to take the role of the departing father in the guidance of the children. Upon issuance of a divorce decree, the man had to immediately leave the house with his few personal possessions and live in a special bunk house for single men – or return to the house of his parents, if they still lived. However, at least during historical times, divorces were very rare, since both spouses married for love and economic security. Just like the laws of the ancient Samaritans, a Muskogean man was obligated to marry his wife’s sister, if she was widowed and could not find a husband (or lover) after one year of mourning.
Trials involving capital punishment or banishment from the province were generally held in the capital town. The jury usually consisted of the Council of Elders. Evidently, some provinces used a council composed of heneha’s for cases. Both the Great Sun and the Council of Beloved Men and Women had the right to reduce the punishment assigned by the Council of Elders, but they could not reverse the actual guilty finding. It was not uncommon for the Great Sun or the lower council to reduce the death sentence for adultery, if committed by a couple particularly well-liked in the community. The couple would be escorted to safety by soldiers to a White Town, if the clan members found suitable new spouses for the aggrieved spouses.
Execution of condemned prisoners could not be held in White towns. Since most provincial capitals were White towns, this meant that either the prisoner was escorted to Red towns or an outlying village for execution by soldiers. Execution was generally by being clubbed on the head in the town square. The bodies of traitors and those convicted of sorcery could not be claimed by relatives for burial in sacred locations and were tossed into a nearby river or swamp.
