Legal Pluralism

Presented By: Siddharth Mathur

Roll. No: 883058
B.A.LL.B
Introduction
• ‘Law’ in the modern legal system
• The dominance of state law and its
distinctiveness: superiority over competing set of
rules
• The ascending thesis of government: an essential
feature of modern legal system
- delegation of power to the officials
- example: Public Law
Legal Pluralism
• Legal Pluralism in terms of State Law
• Two features of Legal Pluralism:
- Side by side existence of two legal systems
- Independent source of existence from the state
• A classic example of legal pluralism and its
relevance in the modern legal system
• Division of authority and conflict
Need to recognize Parallel Legal
Orders
• Legal Centralism assumes state law to be the
only real law and therefore other rule governed
arenas are not laws
• Legal centralism assumes state to be the best
way of obtaining social goods, which means that
the other orders are inferior
• Legal centralism creates the idea that all other
rules are subordinate to state law and operate
within the boundaries set by it.
Complexities associated with Parallel
Legal Orders
• Basically the purview is clear but close
examination is required (lack of uniformity)

• Procedures adopted to remove complexities:

- Formal Recognition
- Informal Recognition
• But a prerequisite to the above proposition is the
reciprocity.
• How reciprocity can be ensured?
Cont…
• Complexities pertaining to the recognition of an
order as a legal order
• According to Hart:
“…an order is a legal order if it is regarded as a
law by those on whom the rules apply”
• The Problem with this test
Conclusion
• Denying recognition to some rule governed
orders as legal orders results in the destruction
of their nature
• Need for Extended Legal Pluralism
• Problem associated with legal pluralism: Which
orders can be regarded as legal and which not?