Albanian Communism and Legal Pluralism. The Question of Kanun Continuity
Albanian Communism and Legal Pluralism. The Question of Kanun Continuity

Summary/Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to deal with the question why the Kanun (customary law) continued to be applied in the Albanian nation-state. The nation-state, generally seen as an expression of modernity and as its main agent, usually makes every attempt to destroy every legal system alternative to its state law. The paper suggests that the perspective of legal pluralism is the best way to analyse this continuity of the Kanun in the Albanian nation-state. Specifically, the analysis will focus on the social consequences of the existence of a semi-autonomous social field in the transfer and negotiation of legal knowledge. The use of the Kanun in communist Albania with its radical authoritarian law is taken as a case in point.

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