ABSTRACT
There is some academic debate about the exact relationship of custom and law. Some claim that law is simply the extension of custom and that with the passage of time, customs develop into laws. From this point of view, law may be seen as the redefinition of custom for the purposes of clarity and enforcement by the legal institutions. The State institutions are seen as merely refining the existing customary behaviour of society. Others deny this evolutionary link and claim that law and custom are in fact contradictory, with law emerging in opposition to, and replacing, customary forms of behaviour. From this perspective, law is seen as being a new form of regulation handed down by the State rather than as emerging from society as a whole.
