Multicultural Conflicts and National Judges: A General Approach

1. Introduction How do social and legal actors negotiate accommodative solutions to legal questions regarding family matters in situations involving immigrant and ethnic minorities in Europe and North America? (1) In this contribution I want to suggest the usefulness of the concept of interlegality to study the encounters between majority and minority legal sensibilities. In a way I am not dealing with cases and examples--although many will pass by as illustration--but rather dealing with a "meta" question how best to study this aspect of legal life. Although I restrict myself to family matters, the discussion how to study these encounters between majority and minority legal concepts and sensibilities has a broader relevance, I venture to suggest. To prepare the ground, I feel the need to introduce some preliminary questions and try to summarize some bits of current discussions.