How Today's Court System Might Have Helped The Hatfields And McCoys
In what is undoubtedly one of the most famous and ongoing feuds in American history, the Hatfields and McCoys constantly battled over who killed who, who betrayed who, and who should have married the pregnant Roseanna. This is an example of how two families needed intervention and family mediation to cool hot tempers and settle legal matters fairly. Had modern court systems and family law been around in the mid- to late nineteenth century, this family feud might have gone something like this.
The Investigation, Trial and Arrest for Harmon McCoy's Murder
The beginning of this infamous feud started when a Hatfield purportedly shot a McCoy. If powerful lawmen had been there, an arrest and investigation into the accusations and the murder would have led to a fair and just trial of the suspected Hatfield. It would not have changed the bitterness between the families, but it would have brought justice to the dead man and a forced legal end to the feud if a judge could have issued a restraining order for both parties to keep away from each other (under penalty of law).
Court-Ordered Paternity Test and Child Support for Roseanna's Baby
Johnson, Anse Hatfield's son, had a maddening love affair with Roseanna McCoy. Although Roseanna claimed she was pregnant with Johnson's baby, he ran off and married somebody else, leaving Roseanna to raise the child on her own. Under the modern court system, this is a regular occurrence, but the biggest difference is that a court would order a paternity test to soothe the ruffled feathers of both families, and then order Johnson to pay child support for the child he fathered and left behind. Additionally, family mediation specialists would see to it that both families would be able to spend time with the new grandchild, and set aside differences for the baby's sake.
Settling Other Family Disputes Through Mediation
Because the Hatfields and McCoys barely had six degrees of separation between them, they were constantly using their familial ties to get at each other in whatever way possible. What they desperately needed was an objective third party that was completely unrelated to either family, someone who could resolve disputes and draw up compromises both families could live with. If both families had had the services provided by family court today back when their feud began, there might not have been any feud at all, thus rewriting this bit of history entirely.
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