Legal pluralism

Legal pluralism allows for moral laws that are unwritten as formal laws. These laws include religious accommodations that are unjustified to receive a full pedigree and hence in the eyes of a positivist, law.

Sources of such pluralist laws include the Koran, Sunna, Ijma ... whereas most modern western nation-states take the basis of their legal system from the Christian superpowers of old (i.e. Britain, France, etc.), which is also why moral laws found in the Bible have actually been made fully-fledged laws, with the initial grund-norm set far back in legal history, hence fulfilling the priority of both the positivists and the naturalists.

Broadly any country that has more than one legal system could be considered to be following a legal pluralism. Among many countries that had come under colonialism there exists plurality of law, some of which were guided by the western law paradigm. While people living in countries had their own way of organising the society there emerged a situation where their practices were in conflict with that of the modern western laws.

Legal pluralism also exists to an extent in societies where the legal systems of the indigenous population have been given some recognition. In Australia for example, the 'Mabo' decision gave recognition to native title and thus, elements of traditional Aboriginal law. Elements of traditional Aboriginal criminal law have also been recognised, especially in sentencing. This has, in effect, set up two parallel sentencing systems.