Legal Pluralism - global and regional

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Websites/Multiple Documents

Title: International Development Law Organization
Description: "IDLO is the only intergovernmental organization exclusively devoted to promoting the rule of law. Governments, multilateral organizations, private foundations and the private sector support our work. We are headquartered in Rome, where we were first founded, and where we continue to enjoy strong support from the Italian government. We are present in The Hague, a city whose hospitality connects us with an unrivaled legal tradition. And we are represented at the United Nations in New York and Geneva, where we help shape the debate about human rights and development."
Source/publisher: International Development Law Organization
Date of entry/update: 2015-07-28
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
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Title: JOURNAL OF LEGAL PLURALISM
Description: "The Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law (JLP) is devoted to scholarly writing and documentation on all aspects of legal pluralism and unofficial law everywhere in the world and at all times.Published since 1969, first under the title African Law Studies (issues 1-18) it is a refereed, independent, interdisciplinary, international journal. From 2013, the JLP is in volume format (volume 45 onwards). Number 1-66 are all freely available if you scroll down this page. Since March 2013, the Journal of Legal Pluralism is an official publication of the Commission of Legal Pluralism and is available through the Taylor & Francis group. The three issues per year are available both electronically and in hard copy. Subscriptions to the online version are available at a reduced rate of €31.26 for Commission members and are bundled within the Commission membership fee. A one-year subscription to the print copy of the JLP in addition to the electronic access costs € 53.00 for Commission Members. Institutional subscribers need to go through the Taylor & Francis Group. Please visit the JLP page of the Taylor & Francis website to find out more about the most recent issues and to access all articles and book reviews..."
Source/publisher: Commission on Legal Pluralism
Date of entry/update: 2015-07-27
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
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Title: The 2017 Geneva Forum of Judges & Lawyers focused on traditional and customary justice systems
Description: "The 8th Geneva Forum brought together judges, lawyers, and other legal experts from around the world, and relevant UN representatives, to discuss the relationship between traditional and customary justice systems and international human rights, In many countries the majority of legal disputes, especially in rural areas, are resolved by traditional and customary justice systems that are not necessarily recognised by national law as a part of the official court system. The role of traditional and customary justice systems is therefore a key question for realization of ?access to justice for all” and ?effective, accountable and inclusive institutions” under Sustainable Development Goal 16. The 8th Geneva Forum brought together judges, lawyers, and other legal experts from around the world, and relevant UN representatives, to discuss the relationship between traditional and customary justice systems and international human rights, access to justice, and the rule of law. The potential for improving access to justice: In many countries the majority of legal disputes, especially in rural areas, are resolved by traditional and customary justice systems that are not necessarily recognised by national law as a part of the official court system. The role of traditional and customary justice systems is therefore a key question for realization of ?access to justice for all” and ?effective, accountable and inclusive institutions” under Sustainable Development Goal 16. Traditional and customary justice systems are often more practically and culturally accessible to local populations than is the official court system, and may be seen by local people as having greater legitimacy as well. Indeed, official recognition of the existence of traditional and customary courts in a country can be a positive reflection of the international human rights of ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities, or the particular rights of indigenous peoples, or cultural rights more generally. For marginalized and disadvantaged rural populations in developing countries, traditional and customary courts may in practical terms be the only form of access they have to any kind of justice. Development agencies have increased their engagement with informal justice systems, and are considering much greater investment in capacity-building of such systems, noting their potential to reach large portions of the population who face significant obstacles to realizing access to justice in the official justice system..."
Source/publisher: International Commission of Jurists (ICJ)
Date of publication: 2017-11-24
Date of entry/update: 2017-11-24
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
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Individual Documents

Title: The Rule of Law, Legal Pluralism, and Challenges to a Western-centric View: Some Very Preliminary Observations
Description: "Despite hundreds of “Rule of Law” projects at the World Bank and a host of research into the foundations and content of the Rule of Law, we are still nowhere near an altogether satisfactory definition. While the Rule of Law is repeatedly being referred to in ‘legal assistance’ and ‘law reform’ projects and lives as a guiding principle in constitutions around the world, we don’t seem able to settle on a commonly agreedupon approach to its nature and institutional form. In this context, the Rule of Law provides an opportunity to engage critically with the differences in perception and bias from which participants in the debate define and situate the principle and its underlying values. This short paper argues for a legal pluralist understanding of the Rule of Law as a set of selective institutional experiences and normative contentions which look very different when studied across time and space. Complementing some of the work that has been done in post-colonial studies and by TWAIL (Third World Approaches to International Law) scholars in law, the ‘transnationalization of the rule of law’ might be one of the important next frontiers in deconstructing Western and Northern narratives of legal ordering... Rule of Law, Legal Pluralism, Post-colonialism, World Bank, Orientalism, Legal Transplants, Empire..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Osgoode Legal Studies Research Paper Series"
Date of publication: 2017-00-00
Date of entry/update: 2019-12-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 317.69 KB (26 pages)
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Title: Customary law and policy reform : engaging with the plurality of justice systems (English)
Description: Abstract: "Justice sector reforms have frequently been based on institutional transplants, wherein the putatively ?successful? legal codes (constitutions, contract law, etc.) and institutions (courts, legal services organizations, etc.) of developed countries have this been imported almost verbatim into developing countries. Local level context and the systems of justice actually operating in many contexts were largely ignored. As such, justice sector reformers have failed to acknowledge, and thus comprehend, how the systems-which, at least in rural areas, are predominantly customary, idiosyncratic to specific sub-regional and cultural contexts, and residing only in oral form-by which many people (if not most poor people) in developing countries order their lives function. This paper attempts to bring customary systems into central focus in the ongoing debate about legal and regulatory reform. It first analyses the ongoing challenges and critiques of customary legal systems and examines why, despite these challenges, engaging with such systems is crucial to successful reform processes. It then turns to an examination of the ways in which customary systems have developed in three African Countries-Tanzania, Rwanda and South Africa-and how governments in each of these countries have tried to deal with different systems. Finally the paper draws out some of the lessons of these experiences and the implications they might have for ongoing policy reform initiatives."
Creator/author: Chirayath, Leila; Sage, Caroline; Woolcock, Michael;
Source/publisher: World Bank
Date of publication: 2005-07-01
Date of entry/update: 2017-08-01
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 315.47 KB
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Title: Perspectives on Involving Non-State and Customary Actors in Justice and Security Reform
Description: Table of contents : Preface: Erica Harper ... INTRODUCTION: - Non-state and Customary Actors in Development Programs: Peter Albrecht and Helene Maria Kyed... CHAPTER 1 - Women?s Access to Justice, Legal Pluralism and Fragile States Tanja Chopra and Deborah Isser... CHAPTER 2 - Finding the Pulse of Peace Operations: The Case for Privileging ?Political? Rather than Technical Forces Bryn Hughes... CHAPTER 3 - The International Community and the ? Shura Strategy? in Afghanistan Noah Coburn... CHAPTER 4 - Pragmatism, Proximity and Pashtunwali: Informal Justice at the District Level in Helmand Province Kate Fearon... CHAPTER 5 - Strengthening International Programming on Access to Justice for the Poor and for Women: Lessons learnt from Pakistan?s Musalihat Anjumans and other programs Cassandra Balchin... CHAPTER 6 - Village Justice in Indonesia: Defining the ?State? and ?Non - state? in Dispute Resolution Processes Matthew Zurstrassen... CHAPTER 7 - Popular Concepts of Justice and Fairness in Ghana: Testing the Legitimacy of New or Hybrid Forms of State Justice Richard C Crook, Kojo Asante, and Victor Brobby... CHAPTER 8 - Experiences of Informal Justice and Security Provision in a Fragile Environment - The Case of the Terai Region in Nepal: Competition for power and order Lars Peter Lopez Christensen and René Taus Hansen... CHAPTER 9 - From Practice to Policy, and Back: Emerging Lessons from Working with Community-Based Justice Mechanisms in Helmand, Afghanistan Mette Lindorf Nielsen .
Creator/author: Editors: Peter Albrecht, Helene Maria Kyed, Deborah Isser, Erica Harper
Source/publisher: International Development Law Organization (IDLO)
Date of publication: 2011-00-00
Date of entry/update: 2017-08-01
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 2.54 MB
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Title: Customs and Constitutions: State recognition of customary law around the world
Description: Foreword: "Since the Convention on Biological Diversity acknowledged the relevance of ?traditional knowledge, innovations and practices of indigenous and local communities” for biodiversity conservation, the past two decades have witnessed a growing acknowledgement of the substantial role that customary law plays in regulating the use of natural resources in many countries. Indigenous peoples? associations have become ever more effective advocates for recognition of customary rights to territory and resources and have increasing influence in international negotiations. The role of customary practices in biodiversity conservation is explicitly acknowledged in the Aichi Targets adopted at the 10 th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in October 2010. Target 18 sets the goal that, by 2020, ?the traditional knowledge, innovations and practices of indigenous and local communities, relevant for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, and their customary use of biological resources, are respected, subject to national legislation and relevant international obligations, and fully integrated and reflected in the implementation of the Convention with the full and effective participation of indigenous and local communities, at all relevant l evels.” IUCN?s Regional Environmental Law Programme, Asia, initiated this study ? carried out entirely on a voluntary basis ? in an attempt to better understand the degree to which customary practices and law that govern natural resources are recognized by individual nation States. The study found that more than 60% of the 190 constitutions reviewed provide at least some degree of recognition of customary law, and that only 20% specifically recognize customary law that governs land and natural resources. Some countries that do not provide constitutional recognition of customary law do so by statute. While constitutional recognition was the primary focus of this study, a preliminary compilation of information on statutory recognition of customary law was carried out and is provided as well. This effort benefitted from the input of members of IUCN?s Commission on Environmental Law and Commission on Environmental Economics and Social Policy. We gratefully acknowledge the author, Ms. Katrina Cuskelly, who began this study as a volunteer intern with the IUCN?s Regional Environmental Law Programme, Asia, and continued and completed the work over the course of more than one year. Without her dedication and commitment, this study would not have been possible. We hope that this study provides a basis for continuing research and, eventually, initiatives for constitutional and statutory reform, to appropriately recognize customary law governing natural resources, and to contribute to the security to the people whose lives it governs and who are dependent on the natural resources"
Creator/author: Katrina Cuskelly
Source/publisher: IUCN
Date of publication: 2011-00-00
Date of entry/update: 2016-01-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 1.25 MB
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Title: The Heterogeneous State and Legal Pluralism in Mozambique
Description: Abstract: "This article analyzes some of the most salient features of the state and the legal system in Mozambique. I propose the concept of the heterogeneous state to highlight the breakdown of the modern equation between the unity of the state, on the one hand, and the unity of its legal and administrative operation, on the other. The centrality of legal pluralism is analyzed in light of an em- pirical research focused on community courts and traditional authorities. I use the concept of legal hybridization with the purpose of showing the porosity of the boundaries of the different legal orders and cultures in Mozambique and the deep cross-fertilizations or cross-contaminations among them. Special at- tention is given to the multicultural plurality resulting from the interaction between modern law"
Creator/author: Boaventura de Sousa Santos
Source/publisher: Law & Society Review
Date of publication: 2006-00-00
Date of entry/update: 2015-07-29
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Title: Restitution and Legal Pluralism in Contexts of Displacement
Description: "...This paper examines the value and limitations of HLP restitution in contexts of customary land tenure and legal pluralism and examines the role that customary justice can play as part of a transitional justice process. It argues that actors involved with restitution and broader efforts to reinstate justice, the rule of law, and democracy in post-conflict and transitional contexts should engage, albeit under certain conditions, with nonstate justice mechanisms. For the overwhelming majority of populations in developing countries, which is where most internally displaced persons (IDPs) live, customary justice is the only accessible form of justice. Engagement with it is essential to improving access to justice and to reforming or influencing its rules and processes in accordance with the human rights and democratic principles promoted by transitional justice..."
Creator/author: Barbara McCallin
Source/publisher: Brookings Institution
Date of publication: 2012-08-00
Date of entry/update: 2015-07-29
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Title: A TYPOLOGY OF RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN STATE AND NON-STATE JUSTICE SYSTEMS
Description: "The existence of normative legal systems operating independently or semi-independently from the state is an empirical reality in almost every decolonised country in the world. However, despite the prevalence of non-state justice systems, and the growing official and academic recognition of their existence, to date few comparative studies have been made of them (with the notable exception of Morse and Woodman 1988). Further, although in much of the literature concerning non-state justice systems (especially that written by law reform commissions and donor agencies) there are references to the need to ?recognise,? ?empower? and ?harmonise? relations between state and non-state systems, as yet there has been limited enquiry into what exactly is meant by these terms. One explanation for this is the connection of this enquiry with sensitive issues concerning state sovereignty. While it is easy to agree in theory with broad statements about the need for recognition of non-state systems, once the actual detail is broached, significant levels of disagreement emerge. This may be due to what Blagg calls the ?meticulously embroidered fiction that it is possible to both ?empower? communities and not to give up any of one?s own” (Blagg 2005: 340). The aim of this paper is therefore to produce a comparative analysis of the range of possible relationships between state and non-state justice systems. It does this through the creation of a typology that sets out seven different models of relationship, the specific details that differentiate one model from another, the potential advantages and disadvantages of the different models, and the situations in which these models are working or not working and why. The typology is based on a comparative analysis..."
Creator/author: Miranda Forsyth
Source/publisher: "Journal of Legal Pluralism"
Date of publication: 2007-00-00
Date of entry/update: 2015-07-29
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Title: Customary Justice: Perspectives on Legal Empowerment
Description: "Rule of law practitioners from around the world are keenly aware that customary justice systems are a potentially important means of improving access to justice. Whether by choice or because they have no alternative options, the world?s poor overwhelmingly favor customary justice systems over their formal counterparts. While the quality and equity of the outcomes delivered may vary, the sheer volume of outcomes suggests that there is significant opportunity to enhance legal empowerment by improving the quality of the justice processes that disadvantaged individuals and communities already use. At the same time, it is clear that customary justice systems can also restrict access to justice, particularly for marginalized and vulnerable groups. These processes can reinforce power imbalances, and outcomes can contravene human rights and justice standards. A central conundrum of engaging with customary justice systems is therefore how to support their many important positive aspects and enhance their capacity to protect the human rights of the most vulnerable members of society, notably women, minorities, indigenous peoples, disabled people and children. Despite these obvious linkages, the question of the role that customary justice systems should play in rule of law development programming remains poorly understood. In particular, there is scant knowledge on the extent to which assistance has translated into behavioral change among actors involved or on methodologies for evaluating impact and drawing lessons for future activities..."
Creator/author: Janine Ubink, Editor; Thomas McInerney, Series Editor
Source/publisher: International Development Law Organization (IDLO)
Date of publication: 2011-00-00
Date of entry/update: 2015-07-28
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 1.29 MB
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Title: A Basic Introduction to Customary Justice Systems
Description: "...the premise that customary justice systems are the preferred choice of users is grounded in salient practical and social rationale. Their speed, accessibility and cost-effectiveness make them a natural partner for disputants based in rural settings and isolated from the state system. Moreover, their focus on consensus-based decisions and the restoration of community harmony seems to respond to the needs of tightly knit communities whose members share close bonds of social and economic dependency..."...This is Chapter 1 of "Customary Justice: From Program Design to Impact Evaluation".
Creator/author: Erica Harper
Source/publisher: International Development Law Organization (IDLO)
Date of publication: 2011-00-00
Date of entry/update: 2015-07-27
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 114.11 KB
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Title: Customary Justice: From Program Design to Impact Evaluation
Description: "...Informal or non-state justice systems are umbrella terms often used to describe mechanisms of justice and conflict resolution that operate outside the bounds of a formal, state-based legal system. These may include, but are not limited to, indigenous, customary and religious legal orders, alternative dispute resolution mechanisms and popular justice forums. This book is concerned primarily with customary justice systems, sometimes also referred to as ?traditional justice systems?. While the diversity of such systems makes generalization difficult, for the purposes of this book, ?customary justice? refers to a system of customs, norms and practices that are repeated by members of a particular group for such an extent of time that they consider them to be mandatory. Customary systems tend to draw their authority from cultural, customary or religious beliefs and ideas, rather than the political or legal authority of the state. As such, provided that it has not been incorporated into state law, customary law is only law to the extent that the people who follow it, voluntarily or otherwise, consider it to have the status of law. Customary justice systems are as much social or political orders as they are legal orders; customary law generally comprises descriptions of what a community does as well as prescriptions as to what its members should do. These norms and rules are actively produced, enforced and recreated through processes of participation and contestation. Customary law can therefore be dynamic, adaptable and flexible, and any written version of it is likely to become quickly outdated. Factors as diverse as ecology, socio-economics, proximity to the state system, and religious beliefs all contribute to the development of customary law. These factors explain why the precepts of customary justice systems can differ greatly over small distances, and why there may be several versions of customary law co-existing in one place, in competition with each other as well as the state system..."
Creator/author: Erica Harper
Source/publisher: International Development Law Organization (IDLO)
Date of publication: 2011-00-00
Date of entry/update: 2015-07-27
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 1.13 MB
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Title: Divers paths to justice - Legal pluralism and the rights of indigenous peoples in Southeast Asia
Description: "Indigenous peoples are among the most historically ancient living cultures of the world and have over time developed their own distinct bodies of laws and institutions of social organisation, regulation and control. These laws and institutions are expressed and practised in ways unique to their sociocultural contexts as self-determining peoples since time immemorial. Today, they are commonly referred to as customary laws (and practices). Customary laws govern community affairs, and regulate and maintain indigenous peoples? social and cultural practices, economic, environmental and spiritual well-being. However, customary laws and practices and governing institutions have come under frequent and repeated attack, leading to their severe distortion and erosion since the period of conquest and colonisation. This situation has continued with the formation of new States following decolonisation in more recent times. Prejudices against indigenous peoples and projects of nation-building have led to these peoples being marginalised and the practice of their customary laws, cultural practices, beliefs and institutions has become a criminal offence in many parts of the world, including Asia..."
Creator/author: Marcus Colchester & Sophie Chao (eds.) with Ramy Bulan, Jennifer Corpuz, Amity Doolittle, Devasish Roy, Myrna Safitri, Gam Shimray & Prasert Trakansuphakon
Source/publisher: Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP), Forest Peoples Programme (FPP), The Center for People and Forests (RECOFTC), Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI)
Date of publication: 2011-11-26
Date of entry/update: 2015-02-24
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 2.07 MB
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Title: When Legal Worlds Overlap: Human Rights, State and Non-State Law
Description: "...Plural legal orders occur in numerous circumstances: for example, where different family laws apply to specific ethno-cultural groups, where customary dispute resolution mechanisms operate without state sanction, where non-state legal orders (such as chiefs? courts) are officially recognised, or where quasistate legal orders (such as alternative dispute resolution mechanisms) are established....The report contributes to the discussions on plural legal orders in four ways: It identifies some important misunderstandings and false dichotomies that have made coherent discussion of plural legal orders particularly difficult (and which similarly undermine the understanding of how religious, indigenous, and gender rights actually interact). (Chapters I to IV) It sets out the human rights issues that need to be addressed in the context of plural legal orders. (Chapters V and VI) It examines some specific policy challenges, notably those that occur in the context of recognition of non-state legal orders; recognition of cultural diversity in law; and justice sector reforms. (Chapters VII to IX) It offers a practical approach ? some principles and a framework of questions ? that human rights advocates and policy-makers can use as a guide when they work in plural legal contexts. (Chapters X and XI)..."
Source/publisher: International Council for Human Rights Policy
Date of publication: 2009-00-00
Date of entry/update: 2014-11-19
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 794.55 KB
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