Evocative and stimulating, engaging and timely, this small volume makes sense of the complicated and reciprocal relationship between law and culture. It starts with various definitions of law and the factors that anthropologists consider when they compare legal systems. Next, the experiences of exemplary researchers throughout history and some of the methods they used in their discoveries are discussed. Readers learn how to employ the comparative method and build a typology based on the source of a particular law by putting the world’s legal system into one of three categories: Western law, religious law, and traditional law. The book also tackles important issues such as formal law versus informal law, using law to legitimize power, and clashing values within a single legal system. Examples from fieldwork experiences and historical events offer readers a chance to see how a method has been applied or a concept developed—as well as how law and culture are intertwined in the real world.
Author(s): Dorothy H. Bracey
Publisher: Waveland Press
Year: 2006
Language: English
Pages: 131
Tags: Law, Culture
Title Page
......Page 4
Contents......Page 6
Preface......Page 8
Chapter 1 - Law's Cultural Context
......Page 10
Culture......Page 11
Theories of Law......Page 13
Law and Other Norms......Page 14
This Book......Page 17
Doing Comparative Studies......Page 18
Early Anthropology and Law......Page 22
The Introduction of Fieldwork......Page 23
Law as Process......Page 25
Pigeons and Parakeets......Page 26
Law and Power......Page 27
The Question of Method......Page 28
The Case Method and Its Discontents......Page 29
Anthropology and Advocacy......Page 31
Beyond the Bounds of Village and Court......Page 32
The Words of Justice......Page 33
Not Only Anthropologists......Page 34
Combining Methods......Page 35
Chapter 3 - Typology
......Page 38
A Simple Typology......Page 40
Legal Pluralism......Page 45
Legal Pluralism as the Norm......Page 48
History......Page 50
Sources of Civil Law......Page 52
Sources of Common Law......Page 54
Differences within Western Law......Page 55
Similarities within Western Law......Page 57
Dissatisfaction with Western Law......Page 58
Chapter 5 - Religious Law
......Page 62
Jewish Law......Page 63
Islamic Law......Page 65
Functions of Religious Law......Page 70
Religious Law and Change......Page 71
Societies Where Customary Law Is Found......Page 76
Characteristics of Customary Law......Page 77
Underlying Assumptions and Values......Page 80
Customary Law Today......Page 85
Chapter 7 - The U.S. Legal System
......Page 88
Chapter 8 - Law as a Tool of Acculturation and Domination
......Page 94
The Encomienda......Page 96
The Law against the Potlatch......Page 99
Suttee......Page 102
Chapter 9 - Cultural Pluralism and the Cultural Defense
......Page 106
Cultural Pluralism......Page 107
The Cultural Defense......Page 114
Epilogue......Page 118
Bibliography......Page 120
Index......Page 126
