Author
Dr Ainee Adam
Organisation/Institution
University of Malaya, Faculty of Law
Country
MALAYSIA
Panel
Criminal Law
Title
Domesticating Revenge, Empowering Deterrence: A Case Study of Clause 8.4 of the Malacca Code of Law
Abstract
Modern criminal justice system rests on the belief that public order depends upon the state’s exclusive right to punish. In this framework, retribution and deterrence serve as the principal theories informing the purpose of punishment while personal revenge is deemed unlawful. Clause 8.4 of the Malacca Code of Law (1801), however, raises an intriguing concept as it appears to utilize personal revenge as an instrument to maintain public order. This article analyses Clause 8.4 through the theoretical lenses of revenge, retribution, and deterrence to reconsider the boundaries between private vengeance and public justice.
Biography
Ainee Adam is a senior lecturer at the Faculty of Law, Universiti Malaya, Malaysia. She is particularly interested in legal history. Her work primarily combines archival research and legal-historical analysis to trace how colonial and pre-colonial legal orders interacted, overlapped, and transformed. Her latest article 'The Untold History of Trademark Law in Early 20th Century Kedah' will be published in the Queen Mary Journal of Intellectual Property in 2026.
