«Rights and Justice

Van Cott Study Questions

The key questions for this reading are these:

1. Do you think the informal justice institutions described here are compatible with a democratic legal order?
2. Should we be encouraging them, or discouraging them?
3. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the "legal pluralism" described here, from a democratic perspective?

To answer those questions, you will probably need to know the answer to more specific questions:

1. Why do informal justice institutions emerge?
2. What are the key characteristics of the 3 informal justice institutions described here?
3. Are they all "indigenous" in origin?
4. What are their advantages?
5. What sorts of disputes does each one deal with?
6. What sorts of punishments does each one inflict?
7. What is their relationship to the state, especially after 1990?
8. Why does the state makes room for these institutions?
9. What are the limits on their autonomy? (for example, how does the Colombian Supreme Court limit indigenous law)