Lesson 1 Flashcards
What is a legal transplant?
Indicates that a rule moves from one country to another, often in a colonial context.
What is a socio-legal approach?
Examining how law works in practice, how it affects people, and how people interact with the law.
Internal approach
Analyzing the law in the books, looking at its coherence, and ensuring it is in line with what is stated in the legislation.
Cultural relativism
Cultural relativism is the view that ethical and social standards reflect the cultural context from which they are derived. Cultural relativists uphold that cultures differ fundamentally from one another, and so do the moral frameworks that structure relations within different societies.
Colonial laws
Colonial law encompassed the totality of the legal norms and research which related to the governance and administration of overseas regions conquered by Western powers
Decolonization
The term “decolonization” refers to the process whereby colonial rule dissolved in the periphery and in the metropole, with its various political, economic, cultural and social dimensions. The transfer of national sovereignty rights led to the emergence of new independent states, thereby permanently changing international relations and the global system of states.
Historic institutionalism
is a new institutionalist social science approach that emphasizes how timing, sequences and path dependence affect institutions, and shape social, political, economic behavior and change
What are the sources of law?
State law, Religious Law and Customary Law
What are the characteristics of Customary Law?
Flexible, Oral Tradition, Informal
The role of customary authorities
People who hold positions of power such as spiritual leaders or chiefs. Often have formal procedures and rules - for mediation.
The Socio-Legal perspective
“How does the law actually work for people?”
Incorporating Context int Law
- Ethnic and national identity: considering the diversity of people and how it affects the law.
- Linguistic diversity: taking into account the different languages spoken and how they impact the law.
- Representation: ensuring that diverse groups are represented
- Culture
Trust in Lawmaking
Crucial for law acceptance. If ppl trust the lawmaker, they are more likely to accept the law, even if they don’t fully understand it. Trust can be influenced by factors such as confidence in authorities and cultural norms.
Legal pluralism
Coexistence of two or more legal systems in the same social field.
Normative ordering
Normative ordering refers to a structured set of rules, standards, or norms that guide behavior, decision-making, and interactions within a particular group, society, or system.
