Like Canada, South Pacific States are struggling with an inheritance of legal pluralism that gives recognition to both customary law and formal, written law. The subproject considers the relationship between Indigenous customary laws and State law, and more particularly, the implications where, Indigenous customary laws are competing not only with common law, but also with civil law. It examines the existing law and practices surrounding legal pluralism in systems where all three sources of law are recognised, concentrating on South Pacific Island States and Canada. This project is managed by TC Beirne Shool of Law, University of Queensland.
Managed by the Emeritus Professor François Feral from the Université de Perpignan Via Domitia, the goal behind this subproject is to document the legal pluralism phenomenon in New Caledonia in a transformation context of the French State law during a slow process of decolonization of a non-independent territory.
