2025-12-13 –, Room06
This panel aims to bridge the traditional socio-legal studies of the "living law" and the recent research of legal consciousness from 4 countries papers.
The concept of "living law," by Eugen Ehrlich, expressed the sense of justice among the ordinary people resisting the denial of their customary practice by state law. Relying on this concept, socio-legal surveys were conducted in various countries to defend customary rights, leading to landmark judicial decisions.
Living law's theory presupposed that such law existed prior to state law, was autonomous and robust, and that the law's community adhering to it was homogeneous. However, our empirical research reveals that in order for longstanding daily practices to be formulated as customary rights, they are often framed using legal categories derived from international human rights norms, state law, or regional legal frameworks. It becomes necessary, therefore, to understand living law as a form of translation of exogenous laws.
Moreover, the way in which such exogenous laws are translated and interpreted varies among local peoples and their supporters. Recent studies on legal consciousness, initiated by Patricia Ewick and Susan Silbey, emphasize the diversity in people’s understanding of law. They focus on how individuals justify and narrate their practices, thereby seeking to capture the plurality of legal consciousness. Relying on this perspective, this panel analyzes the processes through which exogenous law, customary rights, and daily practices are translated and interpreted.
Our topics include customary forests in Japan and Indonesia, farmland reallocation practices in China, and human rights advocacy in Myanmar.
