This volume examines dynamics of legal pluralism and explores the varied ways in which constellations of legal pluralism play out in social life. It aims to bridge the social and theoretical space between small-scale case studies and abstract generalisation. The introduction provides an overview of developments in the field of legal pluralism and offers an analytical perspective on the dynamics of the maintenance of and change in constellations of legal pluralism. Contributions examine situations in which the state is seen as remote from local settings and others in which local populations are actively engaged in widening the scope and validity of state law. By focusing on historical developments and the fault-lines of rapid political change in both post-socialist and post-authoritarian states, the volume shows that legal legacies of the past continue to have an impact. Authors look at the social significance of the various, and sometimes competing, types of law which religious and secular transnational actors introduce into local settings.

This volume includes contributions to the Jubilee Congress of the Commission on Legal Pluralism, held in Cape Town, South Africa, in September 2011. The papers represent several themes and topics, including: gender (women's access to justice in Pemba City; Islamic dress and the rights discourse in Europe), legal reform (African legal architecture; laws in the Pacific Island states), and science and technology (seafood traceability; food governance). Also included are two plenary presentations (the relationship between legal pluralism and governance; recent paradigms in research in legal pluralism). (Series: The Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law - Vol. 64)

This volume includes the following contributions: All Law Is Plural: Legal Pluralism and the Distinctiveness of Law * Plural Legal Orders of Land Use * Could Singapore's Legal Pluralism Work in Australia? * Substantive Equality and Maternal Mortality in Nigeria * An Institutional Perspective on Courts of Law in Colonial and Postcolonial Settings * Comparative Law at the Intersection of Religious and Secular Orders (Series: The Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law - Vol. 65)

Ethical Substance and the Coexistence of Normative Orders. Carl Schmitt, Santi Romano, and Critical Institutionalism, M. Croce & A. Salvatore; The Vinaya and the Dharma'sastra: Monastic Law and Legal Pluralism in Ancient India, M. Voyce; A Typology of Relationships between State and Non-State Justice Systems, M. Forsyth

Jon Unruh examines the role of a disordered and dysfunctional legal pluralism in Liberia's descent into internal armed conflict. Thoko Khaime considers the concepts of children's universal rights and their relationship to the social reality of living law in an African society. Abdulmumuni Oba discusses the jurisdiction and functioning of Area Courts in the state of Ilorin in the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Sue Farran examines the land law in the Pacific state of Vanuatu.

Jon Unruh examines the role of a disordered and dysfunctional legal pluralism in Liberia's descent into internal armed conflict. Thoko Khaime considers the concepts of children's universal rights and their relationship to the social reality of living law in an African society. Abdulmumuni Oba discusses the jurisdiction and functioning of Area Courts in the state of Ilorin in the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Sue Farran examines the land law in the Pacific state of Vanuatu.