Academic

Voyce on Legal Pluralism in Ancient India

By Lawrence Solum

Malcolm Voyce (Macquarie University - Division of Law) has posted The Vinaya and the Dharma??stra: Monastic Law and Legal Pluralism in Ancient India (Journal of Legal Pluralism, Vol. 56, 2008) on SSRN. Here is the abstract:

This article outlines the relationship between the Buddhist Vinaya (the rules of Buddhist monks) and the Dharma??stra in ancient India. My purpose is to show that the Vinaya should not be seen as a form of customary law, but as a wider system of jurisprudence linked to Dharma??stra principles and precepts. I make this argument to show that particular aspects of the Vinaya and the legal relationship with the Dharma??stra are examples of the operation `legal pluralism'. This concept is useful as a starting point to develop analytical criteria for distinguishing various bodies of law and their interrelationships. I use this concept to show that in the context of the Vinaya and the Dharma??stra, the term `legal pluralism' helps us to delineate the relationship between the Sangha (Buddhist order of monks) and the Dharma??stra.

Full post as published by Legal Theory Blog on April 03, 2008 (boomark / email).