Research Agenda

The Käte Hamburger Kolleg “Legal Unity and Pluralism” examines phenomena of an unresolved simultaneity of legal unity and pluralism. Our hypothesis is that legal pluralism should not be regarded as a deficiency or dysfunctionality typical only of earlier historical periods or of non-European societies; rather, it is a feature of law per se, across time and regions. In view of the seemingly universal tendency to standardise and unify law, this dynamic tension between unity and pluralism requires new scholarly assessment. The Kolleg therefore opens up unusual perspectives on the understanding of law and society in general and the (legal) ways of dealing with forms of cultural diversity in particular.

To this end, we take a historical-comparative approach that is broad in scope both diachronically and regionally, including an international-comparative perspective on contemporary law and court practice. In this way, we can include current phenomena of the connection between unity and plurality in law in the context of globalisation processes, post-colonial developments, and new forms of social diversity against the background of historical characteristics. This broad approach enables us to inquire into special features and processes of change over time as well as overarching characteristics. It also contributes to countering reductive narratives of modernisation and to defining the complexity and multi-directionality of historical and current developments in more detail.

Building on the terminological and conceptual understandings achieved so far, the aim of the second funding phase (2025–2029) is an attempt at a typology. In collaboration with the fellows and on the basis of their projects, we seek to identify patterns according to which typological distinctions of the different relations between legal unity and pluralism can be made. Our hypothesis is that it is possible and useful to systematise various constellations of the connection between plurality and unity in law and to group them typologically in order to both describe the individual examples in more detail and to determine basic patterns and striking deviations on a larger scale.

Research Perspectives

In the work of the Kolleg, three research perspectives structure the complex relationship of legal unity and pluralism thematically and help establish a common basis from which comparisons can be drawn:

1. Phenomena of plural legal orders and the patterns of standardisation or organisation that apply to them;

2. Forms of plurality and unity in judicial practice;

3. The connection between social diversity and the occurrence of certain types of legal pluralism.

While we consider these approaches to be discrete fields in their own right, we also discuss their mutual interconnections and interdependencies.

Our disciplinary diversity is fuelled in particular by history, legal history, law and legal anthropology, while subjects such as sociology, Islamic studies, Jewish studies, and political science will also continue to play an important role.