A Case-Study of Non-Western Legal Systems and Cultures

Abstract

This chapter originally grew out of reflections on the applicability of socio-legal theory to the study of non-Western societies and jurisdictions. Are theories and assumptions which were initially developed as part of studies of law in Western societies applicable to the study of non-Western law and legality in non-Western legal cultures? Legal sociology was developed in Western Europe and North America, and only more recently has it spread to other countries in the South and Central Americas. We find no established tradition of socio-legal research in most Middle Eastern and African countries. Understandably we need to question if legal sociology’s conceptualisation of the relationship between law and society does not harbour great limitations when it comes to the study of law in non-Western societies. This concern is hardly new and has been among the methodological considerations which have preoccupied social and cultural anthropologists (most of whom initially were Westerners studying non-Western cultures). In the context of the methodological discussions of this book, this chapter shows that theories developed on the basis of studying Western legal systems have both limitations and possibilities. The relationship between Iranian law, state and culture is, for example, rooted in the country’s long and turbulent history and differs radically from that of Western European nations. However, Iran has the oldest democratic constitution in the Middle East, a constitution which was originally inspired by legal developments in Western Europe, and part of the architecture of its legal system is based on French civil law.