Folk, Indigenous, and Customary Law
K. von Benda-Beckmann, Neil J. Smelser, and Paul B. Baltes, 2001
Unwritten legal systems, also called customary, folk, or indigenous law, do not merely belong to the past. In many societies they are part of a complex legal constellation. They govern such diverse areas as rights to land, water and forests, kinship and inheritance, but also political offices. These systems have undergone, and still are subject to, much change, under the influence of state legal systems, and due to economic and political change. They have been subject of both heated political and scientific controversy. For indigenous peoples, customary law is an important source of identity.
International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences. Oxford, UK: Pergamon. Pp. 5705-5708.
|