Accounting for Legal Pluralism: The Impact of Pre-colonial Institutions on Crime

Larcom, Shaun

Abstract

This article investigates the impact of non-state legal institutions on crime
by exploiting differences in pre-colonial legal institutions. In relation to criminal
law, it is suggested that colonisation can be best characterised as the imposition of
almost identical criminal law on a diverse set of pre-existing legal institutions; in
this sense, this analysis inverts the legal origins and institutions literature. Given
that remnants of pre-colonial institutions persist, it is suggested that the type of precolonial legal institution should have a direct effect on state crime control and the
crime rate. This is so, as societies that were relatively stateless prior to colonisation
are more likely to have high magnitude non-state sanctions that can act as substitutes for state punishments, but the presence of such non-state legal institutions
also reduces the productivity of state enforcement, contributing to an overall
increase in crime. This is tested using a measure for pre-colonial institutions on a
dataset of 86 post-colonial states. Private enforcement of high magnitude punishments, despite the deterrent effect, results in a net increase in crime.

Citation

Larcom, S. (2013). Accounting for Legal Pluralism: The Impact of Pre-colonial Institutions on Crime. Law and Development Review, 6(1), 25-59. https://doi.org/10.1515/ldr-2013-0031

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Oct 1, 2013
• Deposit Date: Jun 10, 2014
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 25, 2019
• Journal: Law and Development Review
• Print ISSN: 1943-3867
• Publisher: De Gruyter
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 6
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 25-59
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/ldr-2013-0031