Understanding legal pluralism: Past to present, local to global

Abstract

The notion of legal pluralism is gaining momentum across a range of law-related fields. Part I of this article will portray the rich history of legal pluralism, from the medieval period up to the present. Part II will explain why current theoretical efforts to formulate legal pluralism are plagued by the difficulty of defining "law." Finally, Part III will articulate an approach to contemporary legal pluralism that avoids the conceptual problems suffered by most current approaches, while framing the salient features of legal pluralism.