What is law? And if so, how many?

When we talk about “law”, we usually refer to a singular – law as an abstract entity, or law as the specific law of a particular jurisdiction.

However, in reality there are many legal orders.  Each state has its own unique legal order. Supranational bodies of law, such as EU law or public international law, exist alongside non-state law, such as Islamic law or local customary law. These many legal orders coexist, and they interact with one another in complex, reciprocal ways.

My research concerns the interrelationships among different legal orders. Do they recognize one another as law? Do they learn from one another? Which law takes precedence in cases of conflicting demands or incompatible norms? Rather than studying “law”, my research studies “laws” and their plural interplay.

Ralf Michaels is a director at the Institute.
He studies comparative law, private international law, and 
the theory of global legal plurality, among other things. 
More on Ralf Michaels and his research can be found here.