ABSTRACT

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book discusses legal culture: how society perceives law and how law perceives society. It addresses the structural reflection of both internal and external perspectives and is intended to outline a pluralist self-representation of the legal order. The book proposes innovative conceptual tools for contemporary systems theory. It concentrates on the image of a kaleidoscope in order to illustrate the multiple combinations of mirrors in a legal system. The book then addresses the functional connections that require a constant pragmatic adjustment of the legal order to its social environment. Finally, it presents an Appendix that proposes two important contributions of Niklas Luhmann, which offer an analysis of the previously discussed issues from the perspective of a general systems theory.