The Kānāwai Māmalahoe, or Law of the Splintered Paddle (also translated as the Law of the Splintered Oar'), is an important law within the Kingdom of Hawaii, created by the first king of the Unified nation, Kamehameha I. The law was created in 1738 by the king, who decreed, "Let every elderly person, woman and child lie by the roadside in safety". The law has remained embedded within the Hawaiian constitution since, becoming the first national law regarding modern human rights and treatment of civilians and noncombatants.
The law originated when during the Kepaniwai War, when Kamehameha I was in Puna, his party encountered a group of commoners on a peach. Two fishermen attacked the king while he was trapped by a reef, hitting the king hard on the head with a paddle in defense, which broke into several pieces. Years later those same fishermen would be captured and brought before the king, to be executed for the crime of attacking a king. The king, however, declared that the men had acted in self defense, and as such they would be granted clemency.
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