Remembering: Legal Hybridity and Legal History

Abstract

An interest in contemporary, comparative legal and normative hybridity, or, legal pluralism, around the globe has become increasingly common. But the hybridity of our own Western past, and the significance of this fact, is too often ignored. As part of a wider project on, hybridity and diffusion, the mixtures and movements of state law and other norms, this article contributes to the process of ‘remembering’ this past. It does so to better prepare comparatists for the challenges of the present.

The article was published in June 2011 in the Comparative Law Review. Note that the article is formatted somewhat differently there and anyone citing the article should consult the published version.

Keywords: Comparative law, legal history, hybridity, legal pluralism, mixed legal systems, mixed jurisdictions, hybrid legal traditions