A Critical Appraisal of Legal Pluralism

Legal pluralism, in broad terms, refers to the coexistence of two or more legal systems under the one and same state. In narrower terms, legal pluralism implies plural state-made laws and the reflection of social and cultural plurality in a legal system of a state. The concept, in its broad sense, embodies this outlook that law is not limited to the institution of the state, and that the state is only one of the authorities that make legal rules in the society. Accordingly, the concept of legal pluralism gives rise to diverse and important discussions on the scope and meaning of the concept of law. In addition to the conceptual controversies with which legal pluralism is encountered, the significant methodological criticism is that legal pluralist theories lack a clear and precise criterion for distinguishing law from other social phenomena. Considering all normative orders as legal will lead to certain conceptual confusions, which undermines main claims of legal pluralism and make them unjustified.