Description
Book SynopsisCustom is simply the practices and usages of distinctive communities. But are such customs legally binding? Is custom a source of law that we should embrace in modern legal systems, or is the notion of law from below outdated? This volume offers a fresh perspective on custom's enduring place in both domestic and international law.
Trade Review"In comparing these diverse areas of law, this rich study draws on an impressive array of methodologies and disciplines, including anthropology, history, psychology, and economics. Although Professor Bederman’s vision of custom is familiar in many ways — he adheres to the traditional view that custom involves both objective and subjective components — his contribution is nonetheless significant in its delineation of the jurisprudential and practical factors that explain custom’s staying power." - Harvard Law Review
Table of ContentsPart I. Customary Law in Perspective: 1. Anthropology: custom in pre-literate societies; 2. Culture: the western legal tradition of positivism; 3. History: the common law and custom; 4. Economics, socio-biology and psychology: the human impulse of custom; Part II. Custom in Domestic Legal Systems: 5. Family law; 6. Property; 7. Contracts; 8. Torts; 9. Constitutional law; Part III. Custom in International Law: 10. Private international law: international commercial usage; 11. Public international law: custom among nations; Conclusion: how and why custom endures.
