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Critical and social movements

Legal Pluralism

Many normative orders besides the state's law exist side by side.

20th century to today · Worldwide, especially in the anthropology of law. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.

Read this first. This is a first map of a large subject. Each school is a family of views, and its thinkers often disagree with one another, so every summary simplifies. We describe each school in terms its own followers would accept and give the strongest criticism beside it. Read the original works before you cite anyone, and check your own course's reading list. This is general information, not legal advice.

What is law?

In any society several systems of rules operate at once: state law, customary law, religious law, professional rules and transnational norms. The state does not hold a monopoly on law.

Law and morality

Varies by order. The theory describes the coexistence and its tensions, and asks how they should be reconciled.

Where does its authority come from?

Each order has its own sources: the state, a community, a religion, a profession.

How should judges decide?

Courts may have to recognise, apply or defer to non-state norms and decide which order prevails.

The question it asks

Who decides which law applies?

Main criticism

Some positivists say that calling every normative order 'law' blurs the concept.

Legacy today

Customary and indigenous law, religious law in secular states, and the study of global governance.

Key thinkers

Eugen Ehrlich, Leopold Pospisil, John Griffiths, Sally Engle Merry, Boaventura de Sousa Santos, Brian Tamanaha.

Key works

  • Griffiths, What is Legal Pluralism? (1986)
  • Merry, Legal Pluralism (1988)
  • Tamanaha, A General Jurisprudence of Law and Society (2001)

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Read further

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: philosophy of law (an overview). For the exact arguments, go to the original works above.

TheLawToKnow Tools’s guide to schools of legal thought is an educational overview. It is not legal advice. Report a mistake.