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oapen-20.500.12657-879732024-03-28T14:03:23Z Grassroots Law in Papua New Guinea Demian, Melissa Papua New Guinea Postcolonial law Socio-legal studies anthropology New legal realism thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JH Sociology and anthropology::JHM Anthropology thema EDItEUR::L Law::LA Jurisprudence and general issues::LAF Systems of law thema EDItEUR::R Earth Sciences, Geography, Environment, Planning::RP Regional and area planning::RPG Rural planning and policy The introduction of village courts in Papua New Guinea in 1975 was an ambitious experiment in providing semi-formal legal access to the country's overwhelmingly rural population. Nearly 50 years later, the enthusiastic adoption of these courts has had a number of ramifications, some of them unanticipated. Arguably, the village courts have developed and are working exactly as they were supposed to do, adapted by local communities to modes and styles consistent with their own dispute management sensibilities. But with little in the way of state oversight or support, most village courts have become, of necessity, nearly autonomous. Village courts have also become the blueprint for other modes of dispute management. They overlap with other sources of authority, so the line between what does and does not constitute a 'court’ is now indistinct in many parts of the country. Rather than casting this issue as a problem for legal development, the contributors to Grassroots Law in Papua New Guineaask how, under conditions of state withdrawal, people seek to retain an understanding of law that holds out some promise of either keeping the attention of the state or reproducing the state’s authority. 2024-02-23T15:26:02Z 2024-02-23T15:26:02Z 2023 book ONIX_20240223_9781760466121_3 9781760466121 9781760466114 https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/87973 eng Monographs in Anthropology application/pdf Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International book.pdf ANU Press ANU Press 10.22459/GLPNG.2023 10.22459/GLPNG.2023 ddc8cc3f-dd57-40ef-b8d5-06f839686b71 9781760466121 9781760466114 ANU Press 210 Canberra open access
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The introduction of village courts in Papua New Guinea in 1975
was an ambitious experiment in providing semi-formal legal access to the
country's overwhelmingly rural population. Nearly 50 years later, the
enthusiastic adoption of these courts has had a number of ramifications, some of
them unanticipated. Arguably, the village courts have developed and are working
exactly as they were supposed to do, adapted by local communities to modes and
styles consistent with their own dispute management sensibilities. But with
little in the way of state oversight or support, most village courts have
become, of necessity, nearly autonomous. Village courts have also become the
blueprint for other modes of dispute management. They overlap with other sources
of authority, so the line between what does and does not constitute a
'court’ is now indistinct in many parts of the country. Rather than casting
this issue as a problem for legal development, the contributors to Grassroots
Law in Papua New Guineaask how, under conditions of state withdrawal, people
seek to retain an understanding of law that holds out some promise of either
keeping the attention of the state or reproducing the state’s authority.
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