Blood Law (akin to blood feud) is the English term for the traditional American Indian practice of killing an individual for an offence to another individual or group (tribe, clan, family, etc.). The offences ranged from murder, witchcraft, theft, etc., to insult. If the offending party did not surrender for justice, any member of the offended group could assess the penalty against any member of the offender's group. Traditionally, depending on the character of the offender, death would either be quick (administered by the men), or by slow torture (administered by the women). Native Americans (also Indians, Aboriginal Peoples, American Indians, First Nations, Alaskan Natives, or Indigenous Peoples of America) are the indigenous inhabitants of The Americas prior to the European colonization, and their modern descendants. ...

The United States discouraged the Blood Law but generally left to the tribes the enforcement of the prohibition unless the murdered victim was non-Indian. Also, the government sometimes stepped in when blood law threatened to lead to war between two different tribes.

Blood Law led to low-level civil war among several of the Five Civilized Tribes during and following their removal to the West. The most noted were the friction between the Lower Creeks and the Upper Creeks and the killings between the John Ross and Ridge factions of the Cherokee Nation; both of which lasted from the 1820s to the American Civil War. The Five Civilized Tribes is the term for five Native American nations which lived in the Southeastern United States before their removal. ... The American West (or The West), is an informal but well-recognized name for the region comprising the 17 or 13 (depending on historical time period and authority) of the most western states in the continental United States. ... The Creeks are an American Indian people originally from the southeastern United States, also known by their original name Muscogee (or Muskogee), the name they use to identify themselves today. ... Photograph of Ross John Ross John Ross (October 3, 1790 - August 1, 1866), also known as Kooweskoowe - the egret, was a leader of the Cherokee Native American tribe. ... Major Ridge (c. ... Alternate meanings: Cherokee (disambiguation) The Cherokee are a people native to North America who at time of European contact in the 16th century inhabited what is now the eastern and southeastern United States before most were forcefully moved to the Ozark Plateau. ... The American Civil War was fought in the United States from 1861 until 1865 between the United States – forces coming mostly from the 23 northern states of the Union – and the newly-formed Confederate States of America, which consisted of 11 southern states that had declared their secession. ...

Currently in the United States, only state and federal governments or military courts can impose the death penalty. Justice under Blood Law would be considered revenge killing or summary murder, and also could be an additional aggravating circumstance requiring the death penalty for the crime. Capital punishment in the United States is officially sanctioned by 38 of the 50 states, as well as by the federal government. ...

Noted Americans killed under Blood Law

• Elias C. Boudinot
• John Ridge
• Major Ridge
• William McIntosh