Formal and Informal Justice in Palestine: Dealing with the Legacy of Tribal Law

Abstract

Informal justice refers to the social phenomenon consisting of settling disputes between litigants outside state courts, the formal justice system. “Tribal judges” are the main actors of tribal justice. In recent years, though, conciliation committees were established, sometimes spontaneously, but most of the time, through the direct intervention of the PA, most specifically the executive authority, or even by political factions. “Tribal conciliation” is used to describe both the process and the outcome of the conflict resolution carried out by tribal judges or by conciliation committees.

This paper considers legal pluralism in the WBGS as a way to understand legal phenomena, and the state’s attitude towards non-state normative orderings. It describes the advantages and inconveniences of the coexistence of formal and informal justice in the territories under the PA control, as well as the influence of each system on the other. The aim of this paper, nevertheless, is not to establish boundaries between state-law and customary law. Rather, it aims at showing that both categories of law are in evidence, and hence that a multitude of normative fields can coexist within a society.

Keywords: Informal Justice, Tribal Conciliation, Customary Law, Legal Pluralism, Palestine, West Bank and Gaza Strip, Palestinian Authority

JEL Classification: K00