Alain A. Levasseur

Bijuralism in Federal Systems and in Regions of Local Autonomy

Few legal concepts or notions are static or devoid of life and spirit. Like men and society, whose beliefs, aspirations and commands they translate into enforceable rules or principles, legal concepts evolve as their human and rational substratum grows and diversifies. So it is with federalism and bijuralism. The quilted pattern or kaleidoscopic design of U.S. federalism shaped and carved in many ways the original features of bijuralism in the United States. The present day co-existence of legal systems of a different nature in this country is reflected in an institutional bijuralism which is itself altogether the life support system of federalism and its functional embodiment. The extent to which the constantly evolving institutions of bijuralism fulfill properly their functional dimension can be found in the tensions which grow out of the relationship between institutional, functional and structural bijuralisms.