Exploring Law And Culture

Description

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. 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