The law of rahui in the Society Islands

Abstract : Scholars consider tapu and the rahui to be fundamental institutions in pre-European societies across all parts of the Polynesian Triangle.1 Yet very little is known about them in contemporary Polynesia as far as legal and organisational issues are concerned. Tapu is a term that signifies an object, person or location that was ‘marked’, ‘contained’, ‘restricted’, or ‘put aside’.