Indigenous laws

For centralized states, this informal interactive framework actually forms the essential foundation for the successful functioning of formal enacted law between the law-maker and citizen.18 That is, without interactive law to govern the relationships among citizens and between the citizenry and the state, the centralized system of enacted law simply would not be possible.19 To be effective for the [...] Little attention has been paid to the intellectual processes of law that involve legal reasoning and deliberation, and the interpretation and application of law. [...] Such a legal framework must include thinking about the functions of law, source of law, legitimacy and authority, norm contestation and conflict management, recording of law, territory (e.g., how far did the legal order extend?), international law (e.g., what were the protocols for dealing with other people’s law at the edge of the territory?), how law changes, individual and collective agency, in [...] In other words, appreciating the wisdom of Gitksan law “lies in recognition of the internal point of view of participants in the legal system”.30 Since legal orders and law are entirely created within cultures, it is often difficult to see and understand other cultures’ laws. [...] For the most part, these questions require aboriginal peoples to go beyond band structures in order to consider scale, the concepts of the public good and personal interests,36 accountability, and the full extent of the relationships and responsibilities within the society.