Transcultural Courts
International Association of Procedural Law Annual Meeting (2024)
11 Pages Posted: 7 Aug 2024
Date Written: July 11, 2024
Abstract
Although countries commonly divide their judicial systems along geographic and subject-matter divisions, the idea of creating specialized courts based on culture has not taken root. Instead, courts are generally transcultural. Functionally, the lack of culture-specific courts is surprising because cultural diversity within a population often creates legally significant distinctions. Focusing primarily on the U.S. judicial system, but incorporating attributes of other judicial systems where appropriate, this paper offers three explanations for why courts tend to eschew cultural specializations in favor of transculturality. It also hazards some opportunities for experimenting with cultural specializations in discrete areas of the law that most warrant them.
Keywords: transcultural, indigenous, multiculturalism
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
(July 11, 2024). International Association of Procedural Law Annual Meeting (2024)
, UC Law San Francisco Research Paper Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4892400 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4892400