Legal Pluralism

Abstract

The term “legal pluralism” does not have a single, universally accepted meaning. Viewed as a social fact, the term refers to the situation where two or more legal orders are present in the same social field. Legal pluralism has also been defined as a species of normative pluralism. More recently, the term “global pluralism” has been used. Legal pluralism as a theory opposes legal positivism, and as an ideology opposes legal centralism. It is a long‐standing phenomenon, drawn on by a number of disciplines. However, although the recognition of legal pluralism has steadily increased, its application is still not broad.