Seniormost

The Senate does not make a judgment that reflects on the professionalism, the character, and behavior of the Navy's seniormost officer, and that, too, is not a small matter.

The best example we have is that of the Lozi of central Africa, described by Gluckman (1955); but there are many other similar, if less well described, systems in Africa and elsewhere. In other societies, certain roles, only partly political and jural in content, carry the obligation and the right to adjudicate or at least arbitrate in disputes and to give considered opinions and decisions with some expectation of their acceptance and enforcement. Examples of such roles are lineage head, ritual leader, agegroup leader, band leader, village head, seniormost kinsman, secret-society official, and the like.

The characterization and contrasting of sections as parent or child, male or female, and variations thereon including 'father' and 'son', 'seniormost father' and 'juniors', is repeated over and over again in various contexts.