Examples of Alternative Legal Systems in India

2019 ◽  
pp. 47-73
Author(s):  
Mahendra Pal Singh ◽  
Niraj Kumar

There are systems of law within the Indian jurisdiction that either do not rely on the state legal system at all or rely on it only partially. These include systems of religious personal law, tribal customary law, and other similar indigenous mechanisms of administering justice and settling disputes. The formal definition of law in India, along with constitutional provisions which guarantee religious and cultural freedom and allow for modes of self-governance, accommodates different legal systems with indigenous or traditional roots. Moreover, local and village bodies such as traditional or caste councils operate in independent India as well, further questioning the rhetoric of uniform law in India.

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (7) ◽  
pp. 1079-1095
Author(s):  
Noor Aisha Abdul Rahman

AbstractThe accommodation of religious personal law systems is an issue that has arisen in many countries with significant Muslim minorities. The types of accommodations can range from direct incorporation into the state legal system to mere recognition of religious tribunals as private organs. Different forms of accommodation raise different types of legal, social, and political issues. Focusing on the case of Singapore, I examine one form of accommodation which entails the direct incorporation of this law regulating marriage, divorce, and inheritance for Muslims into the state system. Administered by the Administration of the Muslim Law Act, 1966, the Muslim law binds Muslims unless they abjure Islam. The resulting pluralistic legal system is deemed necessary to realize the aspirations of and give respect to the Muslim minority community, the majority of whom are constitutionally acknowledged as indigenous to the country. This Article examines the ramifications of this arrangement on the rights and well-being of members of this community in the context of change. It argues that, while giving autonomy to the community to determine its personal law and advancing group accommodation, the arrangement denies individuals the right to their choice of law, a problem exacerbated by traditionalism and the lack of democratic process in this domain. Consequently, the Muslim law pales in comparison to the civil law for non-Muslims. The rise of religious resurgence since the 1970s has but compounded the problem. How the system can accommodate the Muslim personal law without compromising the rights of individual Muslims is also discussed.


Author(s):  
Nan Gong ◽  
I. I. Fedorov

The formation of the Russian procedural legal system is closely connected with its unique historical evolution. Russian Russian culture According to the Norman theory of the origin of the Russian nation, the Scandinavian culture is the most important source of early Russian culture. During the chaotic period of the tribe at the stage of primitive society, the Norman Varian was invited to Russia to reconcile the tribes of Russia and manage them, and this brought the Germanic custom to regulate the socio-economic and legal relations of various tribes. Since the formation of the ancient state of Russia, the ruling class has constantly strengthened the drafting of new laws and regulations, but customary law still dominates the legal system of the state. At the same time, ordinary norms in the system of customary law as a quasi-legal norm between morality and law have become an integral organic component of social customs and norms at all stages of Russian social development.During the period of Ancient Russia, the common custom of the Slavic people and the Norman Customary Law had a profound impact on the social life of ancient Russia. From the beginning of the 9th to the 17th century, customary law existed as the main legal source for regulating social relations in the late period of the development of Russian primitive society and in the earlier time of feudal society. His coercive force was based on the conviction that was widespread in the social community during this period, that is, "existing customs denote a reasonable basis". With the formation of the East Slavic state, the rulers began to work on drafting new legal norms, but inheritance is still mainly based on customs based on the clan system. As a result, as a rule of conduct recognized and guaranteed by the state, traditional customs gradually acquired a legal nature, and after that, positive law was formed. "Russkaya Pravda" is the most representative legal collection in the early years of the Russian feudal society, "The Truth of Ross", which was compiled according to the customs of the Eastern Slavs, and is the very fi rst positive law of ancient Russia.Before the appearance of formal law, customary law always played a role and coercive force as legislation, but the self-defense and insane methods of revenge obtained from it also caused social unrest. In order to stop personal self-defense and self-arbitrariness, as well as to strengthen ties between different regions, it is necessary to use the power of common law to unite the Principality into a whole. Although the new law does not exclude the original good customary norms, if there are no necessary penalties for violations, it will be destructive for the law. Therefore, it is necessary to give customary law a legal meaning and a compelling force, without changing the existing content of customary law.I must say that the German customs and the traditional customs of the Slavic people are intertwined in the historical codifi cation of Russian procedural law, forming a unique historical path of development of the procedural legal system of ancient Russia. Although national customs were recognized by the state in the form of positive law with the help of " Russian Truth”, and became the norm of justice and social norm on the basis of the guarantee of national coercive force, but this did not change the essence of customary law, but the form of positive law was given to it. As the modernization of the Russian judicial system moves into modern times, generations of legislators and lawyers are focusing on the study of national legal traditions and history, trying to discover the natural laws governing the development of the Russian legal system, and are constantly trying to make progress in the modern and modern process of judicial reform. The harmony of legislation, the borrowing of laws and national customs to a certain extent ensured a reasonable adjustment of national laws and norms of customary law.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ted Sichelman

Many scholars have employed the term “entropy” in the context of law and legal systems to roughly refer to the amount of “uncertainty” present in a given law, doctrine, or legal system. Just a few of these scholars have attempted to formulate a quantitative definition of legal entropy, and none have provided a precise formula usable across a variety of legal contexts. Here, relying upon Claude Shannon's definition of entropy in the context of information theory, I provide a quantitative formalization of entropy in delineating, interpreting, and applying the law. In addition to offering a precise quantification of uncertainty and the information content of the law, the approach offered here provides other benefits. For example, it offers a more comprehensive account of the uses and limits of “modularity” in the law—namely, using the terminology of Henry Smith, the use of legal “boundaries” (be they spatial or intangible) that “economize on information costs” by “hiding” classes of information “behind” those boundaries. In general, much of the “work” performed by the legal system is to reduce legal entropy by delineating, interpreting, and applying the law, a process that can in principle be quantified.


2006 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 123-151
Author(s):  
Hans Christian Korsholm Nielsen

AbstractThe elders of the villages and towns of Upper Egypt frequently convene councils for the settlement of disputes. These councils, which are independent of the state, deal with such matters as rights in water and land and also with succession disputes. Larger councils settle conflicts arising from homicide or feuds. I argue here that these councils should be analyzed as an integral part of society and that their relationship to the state is many-facetted. The continued importance of these institutions cannot be understood if one views customary law and reconciliation councils as no more than a reaction to a corrupt and unjust official legal system


Author(s):  
Pablo Acosta Gallo

Resumen: El concepto de interés general está sólidamente implantado en nuestra Constitución y en nuestro textos legales. La cláusula “intereses generales” legitima la acción de gobierno y la existencia misma del Estado, así como sus poderes de limitación de las esferas de libertad de los ciudadanos. Sin embargo, nuestro ordenamiento jurídico no ofrece una definición de lo que son los intereses generales. En este estudio se intentan encontrar las características que permiten orientar la acción administrativa hacia la satisfacción de los intereses generales, así como identificar los elementos que construyen el concepto.Palabras clave: Interés general, intereses generales, utilidad pública, interés social, servicio público.Abstract: The concept of general interest is firmly implanted in our Constitution and in our legal texts. The clause "general interests" legitimizes the action of government and the very existence of the State as well as its powers to limit the spheres of freedom of citizens. However, our legal system does not offer a definition of what general interests are. In this study we try to find the characteristics that allow us to orient the administrative action towards the satisfaction of the general interests as well as to identify the elements that construct the concept. Keywords: General interest, general interests, public utility, social interest, public service. 


2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 107
Author(s):  
Maurício Dalri Timm do Valle ◽  
Rosaldo Trevisan ◽  
Rosaldo Trevisan

A Constituição Federal brasileira de 1988 autorizou os Estados e o Distrito Federal a instituírem impostos sobre transmissão causa mortis e doação, de quaisquer bens e direitos (ITCMD), tendo o Estado do Paraná levado a cabo a tarefa, inicialmente, por meio da Lei n. 8.927, ainda em 1988. Contudo, tal lei foi revogada em 2015, objetivando o presente estudo a avaliar as consequências da revogação, à luz da previsão constitucional relativa à anterioridade e da noção de sistema jurídico, e sua instantaneidade. A questão ganha relevância pelo fato de a revogação ter operado imediatamente, ao passo que criação de um novo ITCMD paranaense demandou respeito ao princípio da constitucional da anterioridade, garantidor da segurança jurídica, somente produzindo efeito a partir de 1º de janeiro de 2016. Brazilian Federal Constitution of 1988 authorized States and Federal Disctrict to institute taxes on causa mortis and donation of any goods and rights (ITCMD), and the State of Parana carried out the task, initially, through Law n. 8.927, still in 1988. However, this law was repealed in 2015, and the present study seeks to evaluate the consequences of revocation, in light of the constitutional prediction regarding anteriority, and the notion of legal system, and its instantaneousness. The issue becomes relevant because the revocation has operated immediately, whereas the creation of a new ITCMD of Parana demanded respect to the constitutional principle of anteriority, that assure predictability, only producing effect at January 1, 2016.


Author(s):  
Boris A. Antonov ◽  

The essence of any legal system in the concrete state depends on what is actually recognized in it as the main source of law. In case of Sharia, such sources are Koran, Sunnah, qiyas, and Yidma. In addition to Sharia, however, pre-Islamic and non-Islamic sources of law – such as adat (custom), firman (decree) and nizam (law) – are actively involved in the legal systems of many Muslim states. The operation of several sources of law in one country is an example char- acteristic for the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan during the rule of the Taliban there. Lack of balance between the interests of different ethnic groups in Af- ghanistan, the inability of Afghan authorities to compromise and contradic- tions among the competing legal norms have led to destabilizing the legal sys- tem of the country that has finally been transformed into a kind of space where several enclave legal sources operate, being in a conflict with each other at such levels of their interaction as Hanafi-Hanbali (the level of madhhabs), inner- Islamic (Sufi and Wahhabi, Shiite and Sunni), ethno-political (Pashtunization and Talibanization), Sharia -non-Sharia (adat, firman). The last level – which is Sharia – non-Sharia (adat, firman) – has become an illustrative example of a complicated, sometimes conflicting, relationship of Sharia and adat (customary law, enshrined in the code of honor “Pashtunwali”).


1995 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Sturgess ◽  
I. Harrison

The concept and regulation of a code of ethics and professional conduct are approached differently in Great Britain and the USA. In Great Britain, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society has no definition of professional conduct, its Code of Ethics covering only those items upon which it believes that it must make a comment or explanation. Individual States in the USA have definitions of professional conduct, which are defined and regulated by the State legal system.


2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdurrahman Konoras

Islamic Law and Customary Law is part of the national legal system in addition to some other legal systems that also give meaning and role. But as a system and legal system, Islamic Law and Customary Law show a clear separation.Thus, both are standing alone and independent. The continuing development of both shows which of them can continue to exist and which of them is increasingly left behind or even reduced in terms of role.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-63
Author(s):  
Matija Stojanović

This article will try to uncover the stance which the early Christian Church held on the legal system of the Roman Empire, in an attempt to reconstruct a stance which could apply to legal systems in general. The sources which we drew upon while writing this paper were primarily those from the New Testament, beginning with the Four Gospels and continuing with the Acts of the Apostoles and the Epistoles, and, secondarily, the works of the Holy Fathers and different Martyrologies through which we reconstructed the manner in which the Christian faith was demonstrated during the ages of persecutions. The article tries to highlight a common stance which can be identified in all these sources and goes on to elaborate how it relates to legal order in general.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document