THE GENERAL THEORY OF LAW BEFORE LEGAL ANTHROPOLOGY

Abstract

Abstract: The article tends to demonstrate that GTL is not the obstacle for recognition of juridical pluralism, but rather the hegemonic needs of the modern State itself. Contemporary General Theory of Law (GTL) offers theoretical concepts that may be used by coexistence of two or more juridical systems that demand efficacy in a same territory. Also the difficulty to recognize the indigenous normative system as law stems from ideologies, such as that of sovereignty, that have no theoretical plausibility and should be left aside by contemporary social science. The effectiveness of the dominant juridical system originates out of, among other things, precisely the ideology in which lawyers are educated. If the valid norms are those with effectiveness and that pertain to an effective system, as GTL poses, then, given that the indigenous law norms are those that are effective, they are also those that are valid. However, this validity is ignored by the functionaries of the hegemonic system, who have not been educated to ponder the possibility of juridical plurality.
Key words: Indigenous law; General Theory of Law; Legal pluralism; Legal Anthropology; Modern state.