Law, the State and the Maintenance of Socio-Cultural Order

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Abstract

As currently practiced in the courts, contemporary Euro-American jurisprudence has for the most part become a matter of the application of state-sponsored regulatory black letter law. This has had two major consequences. On the one hand the legal system has become less and less concerned with arbitration and dispute settlement – activities which are now frequently hived off elsewhere; and on the other hand the ever growing force of regulatory initiatives has rendered ‘the law’ less and less tolerant of diversity, despite the fact the populations subject to its jurisdiction are becoming steadily more plural in character. This paper seeks to explore the significance of these developments from both a comparative and a historical perspective.