National to Transnational Legal Pluralism
This chapter studies state law within the United States legal system(s), showing that law is not fully unified and hierarchically organized, a condition that also exists within highly developed national legal systems across Europe. It looks at pluralism internal to national legal systems before considering constitutional pluralism in the European Union, as well as global legal pluralism. Flowing through preceding chapters is the movement from decentralized community law to the consolidation of law within the territorial state—with regime law absorbing or trying to suppress or recognizing or accommodating or turning a blind eye to resilient forms of lived community law. The chapter leaves aside community law to center on the state legal system itself, and thereafter on manifestations of cross-polity laws. As with previous chapters, the focus is on legal pluralism while questioning the image of the monist law state. Unlike previous chapters, which have been largely descriptive, the last part of the chapter is more analytical and critical in discussing global legal pluralism.