Wednesday, 18 November 2009, 6.15pm

Campus Westend, Hörsaalzentrum HZ 3

Professor Dr. Franz von Benda-Beckmann, Max-Planck-Institut für ethnolo-gische Forschung (Halle)

Recht ohne Staat im Staat
Eine rechtsethnologische Betrachtung

Biographical sketch
Franz von Benda-Beckmann is Professor (since 2006 Emeritus Professor) and since July 2000 Director (jointly with Keebet von Benda-Beckmann) of the task force ‘Legal Pluralism’ at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle. He holds honorary professorships in social anthropology at the University of Leipzig (2002) and in legal pluralism at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (2004). In addition to empirical research, he is primarily interested in theoretical and methodological questions of legal anthropology. Recent publications: The Power of Law in a Transnational World: Anthropological Enquiries (co-edited with Keebet von Benda-Beckmann and Anne Griffiths) (2009); Rules of Law and Laws of Ruling: On the Governance of Law (co-edited with Keebet von Benda-Beckmann and Julia Eckert) (2009); Gesellschaftliche Wirkung von Recht: Rechtsethnologische Perspektiven (co-edited with Keebet von Benda-Beckmann) (2007).

Abstract

There is widespread agreement that the concept of law is not definitionally tied to the political organisation of a state. At least as law and legal pluralism are understood in legal anthropology, law can be made and applied by non-state actors, even if it is not recognised as ‘established law’ within national and international legal systems. However, it does not follow that the state and state law do not exert a profound influence on the emergence and operation of such a law. Therefore, this lecture will attempt to show that statements concerning ‘Law without the State’ call for a differentiated approach in complex contemporary legal systems, and it will suggest what such an approach might look like from an anthropological point of view.