Paper short abstract:

The State of Senegal has an ambiguous attitude towards the normative pluralism in the family sphere. In theory, it represents an obstacle to the settling down of the law. In fact, it constitutes a resource for the State who tries to overcome his weaknesses by playing on different normative orders.

Paper long abstract:

Many normative orders are in competition to define what the legitimate model should be regarding family. Therefore, the building of Family Law has become a real challenge for the young independent African States that have to root their legitimacy.

Senegal made an original choice in 1972: the Lawmaker refused to copy the French Civil Law and introduced an option system regarding marriage and inheritance that allows people to chose between Modern law and Islamic law. Through this policy, the State of Senegal wanted to conciliate modernity and tradition and, at the end, to root the modern law within the society, thanks to an educational work.

But this work hasn't been done, which explains why the State didn't manage to confirm his central position and why Islamic law has won on the field. In face of this threat, a policy of implementation has finally been created (2004).

- How can we define this pluralism? What is the position of the State in this system?

- Regarding the position of the State, how can we analyze the "norme pratique" that arises from the field?

In a first approach, pluralism seems to reveal the incapacity of the State to impose his law. But in fact, the State is playing on the pluralism of norms to strengthen itself: through concessions done on the rules contents, the State appears as a central actor of the negotiations and is able to spill over its norm to the whole society.