Between or Beyond Legal Orders: Questioning the Concept of Legal Order in Light of Interlegality

Abstract

This paper address the idea of interlegality from the perspective of legal theory. Talking about interlegality inevitably leads to a consideration of legal orders between which linkages and connections appear. Interlegality is sometimes described as a process of mixing elements of different legal orders to create a new legal order. In this contribution, the concept of ‘legal order’ is reconsidered in light of the discussions of interlegality. More specifically, a notion of legal order as a system is contrasted with legal order as an interactional practice. Interlegality highlights plurality and tension which is problematic in a systemic view of legal order, and can be absorbed in an interactional view. However, taking the practice view to its limits may lead to a collapse of the notion of order altogether. Given the prominence of the value of coherence in legal thought, complete abandonment of the notion of legal order seems a step too far. This contribution considers how an interactional view of order may incorporate elements of systemic order in order to do justice to interlegality as a phenomenon of our legal world, ranging from the local to the transnational context.

Keywords: legal pluralism, legal theory, transnational law, interactional law, legal anthropology, concept of law