Abstract This Paper Examines the Different Meanings of Ehrlich's Idea
Published as 'Eugen Ehrlich, Living Law, and Plural Legalities' ,in Theoretical Inquiries in Law : 9.2 2008, (leading on- line journal )-article 6 6,http://www.bepress.com/til/default/vol9/iss2/art6 978-1841135960 Abstract This paper examines the different meanings of Ehrlich's idea of living law in relation to current debates about legal pluralism. It distinguishes three aspects of Ehrlich's concept as these have been elaborated in the later literature: 'law beyond the law', 'law without the state', and 'order without law'. This retrospective shows that Ehrlich was not principally concerned with defending the rights of ethnic or autonomous communities as such. In taking his work further it is important to recognise how far official and unofficial law are even more interdependent than in his day. But we may still find his work of relevance for thinking about the normative challenges of plural legalities. Eugen Ehrlich, Living Law, and Plural Legalities 1 David Nelken The theme of this special issue is the need to recognise the overlap between three current socio- legal developments: legal pluralism- or the 1 This paper develops out of a much longer study of the influence of Eugen Ehrlich on later writers which will be published in MARC HERTOGH ed., REDISCOVERING EHRLICH, Hart, Oxford (forthcoming). granting of recognition to different forms and forums of dispute- resolution, the privatisation of law - or the move towards the decentralisation of law making, and multiculturalism- the delegation of authority to sub - state communities. It is suggested that 'the thinking taking place in each of the three spheres calls for close ties to the work conducted in the other two'.The work of Eugen Ehrlich, the founder of the sociology of law, might be thought to be particularly relevant to these interconnecting themes.
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