Law before Government: Ideology and Aspiration
Fernanda Pirie
The extended notion of law evoked by the concept legal pluralism has been subjected to powerful anthropological critiques. Simon Roberts, among others, argued that should be kept analytically distinct from forms negotiated order. His persuasive argument in favour a link between and government, however, shuts door on examples which arise before, or apart from, but are nevertheless not orders. Law, it is here, can identified neither reference negotiation order, nor government. It is, rather, an intellectual system, its expressive aspirational qualities ideological claims promote order justice. In distinguish other systems then, necessary for anthropologist pay more attention significance form. © Author 2010. Published Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org.
Oxford Journal of Legal Studies