Includes bibliographical references (pages 245-264) and index.

Preface / John Griffiths -- The idea of legal pluralism / Gordon R. Woodman -- Norms, law and practices : the practical obstacles that make it impossible to separate them / Jean-Noël Ferrié -- Legal pluralism, normative plurality, and the Arab world / Baudouin Dupret -- A critical survey of Western law studies on Arab-Muslim countries / Jörn Thielmann -- Contrasted identity claims before Egyptian and Belgian courts / Marie-Claire Foblets & Baudouin Dupret -- Palestinian law : social segmentation versus centralization / Bernard Botiveau -- Legal pluralism and cultural unity in Morocco / Lawrence Rosen -- Legal pluralism and public international law : an analysis based on the international convention on the rights of the child / Murielle Paradelle -- The shariʻa and legal pluralism : the example of Syria / Maurits S. Berger -- The treatment of unfair terms in Arab countries : an investigation into the effects of legal pluralism / Hassan Gemei -- An administrator's nightmare : feuding families in nineteenth century Bahariyya Oasis / Rudolph Peters -- The Haqq al-ʻArab : conflict resolution and distinctive features of legal pluralism in contemporary Egypt / Sarah Ben Nefissa -- The anarchy of Egyptian legal system : wearing away the legal and political modernity / Nabil ʻAbd al-Fattah -- Legal pluralism and the closure of the legal field : the al-Muhajir case / Nathalie Bernard-Maugiron -- Legal plurality : relection on the status of women in Egypt / Nagla Nassar -- Formal and informal finance in Egypt : the significance for legal pluralism / Ziad Bahaa-Eldin -- Legal plurality and legitimation of human rights abuses : a case study of state council rulings concerning the rights of apostates / Ahmed Seif al-Islam Hamad -- The secular reconstruction of Islamic law : the Egyptian supreme constitutional court and the "battle over the veil" in state-run schools / Kilian Bälz.