Are There Cross-Cultural Legal Principles? Modal Reasoning Uncovers Procedural Constraints on Law.

Area of Science:

• Legal anthropology
• Cross-cultural psychology
• Legal philosophy

Background:

• Legal theorists and anthropologists propose abstract features and universality of law.
• Cross-cultural variations in legal content exist.
• Previous research has not empirically tested cross-cultural legal principles.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the existence of cross-cultural principles of law.
• To evaluate the thesis that law is a human universal.
• To examine lay beliefs about legal norms and their violation.

Main Methods:

• A between-subjects experimental design was employed.
• Participants (N = 3,054) from 11 countries were surveyed.
• Questions focused on the possibility and existence of laws violating procedural principles (e.g., retrospective or unintelligible laws).

Main Results:

• Participants universally agreed that laws violating procedural principles cannot exist.
• Paradoxically, participants also reported that such laws do exist.
• Beliefs about the concept of law are robust across cultures and languages.

Conclusions:

• Cross-cultural principles regarding the concept of law are evident.
• A significant discrepancy exists between abstract beliefs about law and its practical application.
• Further research is needed to understand the cognitive underpinnings of legal concepts.