Abstract: Botswana is notable for its adherence to flogging and the death penalty in its criminal justice system. These are typically claimed to be part of immemorial tradition, with Botswana’s customary courts being understood as simply a modernized form of ancient practice. However, evidence from early written sources suggests that there was a much more complex and inconsistent situation, in which compensation and revenge were more common features, and murder was often regarded as a private matter. This suggests that effective vertical justice by chiefs may be a relatively recent development of the late precolonial period, representing more powerful rulers and larger political units, and later further accentuated by colonial backing for chiefs who could maintain order. Some support for this may be found in anthropological evidence about the Kgalagari villages in the 1960s, which may be seen as the nearest observed modern analogue.