Law is not linear: Selection from Lauren Benton, Law and Colonial Cultures

The class discussion was centered around the reading "Law and Colonial Cultures," on how our understanding of law as a hierarchy is wrong. 

When discussing laws and who makes them we usually understand it to be from local to regional to national and ultimately international. However, the author, Lauren Benton, explains that law did not originate in this uniform way. She provides an example of how, in the past, Muslims, Jews, and Christians lived and traded together harmoniously despite their cultural and religious differences. They were able to resolve disputes without violence and trust in the other to promote justice fairly. She states that law was complex but it worked well, keeping a general peace and an overall understanding of how differences can shape and reshape to enforce justice. It was only when colonizers became involved that this harmony was disrupted and the fluidity of justice became rigid and linear

I drew parallels with Benton's point and my own life and upbringing. My mother is a devout Christian and my father is a devout Muslim, they are both Nigerian and raised myself and my siblings in the United States. The "rules/laws" regarding the rearing of children in Christianity differ from Islam. However, in my household, I never noticed a difference. It was when I would attend events with my mother or father at their respective houses of faith that individuals would approach, telling me what I should do and which parent I should follow. They were trying to create a hierarchy in my own life, having me place one religion's law and practices over the other. Going along with the reading I drew that other individuals were attempting to "colonize" my life by imposing what they think is best by what they know. My household is similar to how the Muslims, Jews, and Christians interacted with each other. Both my parents respect each other's faith and make compromises. Raising children was no battle either as I felt the presence of both religions but was not bound to either. Punishments and rewards were agreed upon by my parents and never biased. Just as in the late 15th century. 

The interference of outsiders infiltrating a perfectly harmonious system is what causes conflicts and questioning that, evidently, last for many many years. I feel that justice and laws have a way of naturally appearing that makes them satisfactory by all parties involve. It is when certain practices and/or laws are forced upon a people that it is subject to have faults that ruin a society. Laws that are forced upon create a hierarchy that makes one person's ideals above another. Laws that occur naturally allow for equality and fairness that keeps everyone's ideals level and represented.