ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on state actors' attempts to constitutionally recognize and to integrate local law and authority into a South Sudanese judiciary. 'Non-state' forms of social ordering have been originally labelled 'customary law' in the context of colonial rule. In the legal sphere of colonialism, 'customary law' became a 'blanket racial category', related to ethnic identity. As the legal reality shows after decades of efforts of legal transplanting and of striving for legal uniformity, local laws and their dispute resolution mechanisms are still prevalent in South Sudan. However, given these constitutional provisions the question arises how the de jure state-recognized legal pluralist arrangement can be implemented in the legal reality where the state is negotiating its legitimacy for co-regulation. The involved hybrid institutions of 'traditional authority' and chiefs already have a privileged position within the judicial system and have to fulfil a dual mandate as state-recognized local authorities.
