Between Chiefs and Courts: Legal Pluralism and Access to Justice in Post-Conflict South Sudan | Zenodo Skip to main Communities My dashboard Log in Sign up Pan-African Research Journal Africa Published April 22, 2026 | Version v1 Journal article Open Between Chiefs and Courts: Legal Pluralism and Access to Justice in Post-Conflict South Sudan Authors/Creators Nyuon, Abraham Kuol Pluralism, Courts: Legal Description Between Chiefs and Courts: Legal Pluralism and Access to Justice in Post-Conflict South Sudan examines the coexistence of customary, statutory, and international legal orders and how they distribute justice unevenly across gender, class, and locality. Centering South Sudan without treating it as exceptional, the study situates the case within broader debates in legal pluralism, transitional justice, and post-colonial jurisprudence. It develops the concept of layered legality to explain how overlapping legal systems, institutional arrangements, and struggles over authority shape access to justice. Drawing on legal ethnographic fieldwork in community courts in Bor, Rumbek, Wau, and Yambio; analysis of court records and case outcomes; interviews with chiefs, women litigants, lawyers, and UNMISS Rule of Law advisors; and comparative insights from Liberia, Kenya, and Mozambique, the study advances three linked propositions. First, communities actively navigate a tripartite legal order rather than relying on a single system. Second, customary justice often reproduces gendered exclusion despite its accessibility. Third, institutional reform is most effective when it engages rather than delegitimizes local justice practices. The analysis addresses the central question of how different social groups access and move between customary, statutory, and international legal frameworks, and how gender, ethnicity, and class shape these pathways. It shows that legal systems, narratives, and institutional practices function as political instruments rather than neutral mechanisms. The study concludes that justice reforms fail when they attempt to replace plural systems without addressing underlying inequalities, and it identifies pathways for more inclusive and context-sensitive approaches Files final_69e8c8429a4da9.96578704_between-chiefs-and-courts-legal-pluralism-and-access-to-justice-in-post-conflict-south-sudan1.pdf Files (837.7 kB) Name Size Download all article.html md5:cfbe7376e508a781ea1e1d9dc3d2b525 453.9 kB Download final_69e8c8429a4da9.96578704_between-chiefs-and-courts-legal-pluralism-and-access-to-justice-in-post-conflict-south-sudan1.pdf md5:43033e24b0ecf9c20d16973a6230ceb7 379.2 kB Preview Download review_bundle.zip md5:02cb29a855b47d38220dff5d6faf139d 4.5 kB Preview Download Additional details Related works Is identical to Journal article: https://parj.africa/ajls_custl/article/view/32314 (URL) 31 Views 12 Downloads Show more details All versions This version Views Total views 31 31 Downloads Total downloads 12 12 Data volume Total data volume 4.0 MB 4.0 MB More info on how stats are collected.... Versions External resources Indexed in OpenAIRE Communities Keywords and subjects Keywords Legal pluralism customary law access to justice South Sudan post-conflict gender rule of law Details DOI DOI Badge DOI 10.5281/zenodo.19695757 Markdown [](https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19695757) reStructuredText .. image:: https://zenodo.org/badge/DOI/10.5281/zenodo.19695757.svg :target: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19695757 HTML <a href="https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19695757"><img src="https://zenodo.org/badge/DOI/10.5281/zenodo.19695757.svg" alt="DOI"></a> Image URL https://zenodo.org/badge/DOI/10.5281/zenodo.19695757.svg Target URL https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19695757 Resource type Journal article Publisher Zenodo Published in Studies in African Customary Law (Law/Social/Anthropology crossover), 1(1), 2026. Languages English Rights License Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International The Creative Commons Attribution license allows re-distribution and re-use of a licensed work on the condition that the creator is appropriately credited. Read more Citation Export Technical metadata Created April 22, 2026 Modified April 22, 2026 Jump up About About Policies Infrastructure Principles Projects Roadmap Contact Blog Blog Support Help FAQ Developers REST API OAI-PMH Contribute GitHub Donate Funded by Powered by CERN Data Centre & InvenioRDM Status Privacy policy Cookie policy Terms of Use This site uses cookies. Find out more on how we use cookies Accept all cookies Accept only essential cookies