Towards a concept of legal pluralism: a contribution to the theory of law

Abstract

The main objective of this research was to generate a concept of legal pluralism. A descriptive methodology consisting of collection of historical and bibliographic data, including the normative aspects, was employed. In that sense, the results show that legal pluralism is a phenomenon that has been historically the subject of debate in the Theory of Law, and that since its genesis, has gone through various stages of evolution. First, the concept was rejected through the strengthening of legal monism reflected in the state centralism of law. However, the concept is currently accepted by several States, mainly in Latin America, by virtue of its social realities, which have materialized the coexistence of various legal systems in the same territory. After the analysis of the data, it was concluded that the concept is still being developed by the doctrine. The current investigation is a contribution generates notions about several historical and evolutionary aspects of this institution, in a broad and a restricted sense, as well as its basic content from the perspective of sociology and legal anthropology.