Building the legal house: legislation in an age of legal pluralism

This article examines the role of legislation as the central expression of positive law in an era characterized by growing legal pluralism. It addresses the challenge posed by alternative normative systems—religious, economic, technological, and transnational—that increasingly claim authority alongside or in opposition to state-based law. The analysis revisits the historical idea of law as a unified system rooted in the Westphalian model and contrasts it with today’s fragmented legal landscape. It identifies the defining features that allow a normative system to claim the status of “law” and argues that even within a pluralistic order, a primary legal “house” remains necessary. The article makes the normative case that legislated law, when embedded in a constitutional and multi-normative framework, is best suited to provide this overarching structure. It highlights legislation’s relative impartiality, its protection of fundamental rights, and its capacity to mediate conflicts among diverse communities, ultimately concluding that legislated law should prevail as the foundational framework for governance in pluralist societies.