ABSTRACT
Legal pluralism refers to a plurality or multiplicity of norms within one legal order and to norms which coincide in the same social sphere and overlap in their approach to the same issues, people and territory. It is thus both an analytical framework and the cypher determining the simultaneous fragmentation, pluralisation, superposition and fusion of legal systems. Europe's Muslim communities are characterised both by diversity of origin and by diverging levels of religious observance. All European countries are based on state-centred and centralist concepts of law. The pluralistic family-law structures pose a threat to social coherence and cohesion. Discourse on the degree of cultural autonomy in the realm of family law regularly centres on where the line is drawn in the dichotomy between the private and the public sphere. The duty of the state to guarantee human rights prohibits it from relinquishing its authority over any central area over which it legislates.
