Globalization and the Reinterpretation of Customary Law in Contemporary Societies

Abstract

This study aimed to explore how globalization reshapes the meaning, authority, and practical application of customary law in contemporary urban societies, with particular attention to legal actors and community-based norm interpreters in Tehran. This qualitative study was conducted using an interpretive descriptive design. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 24 participants in Tehran, including legal practitioners, legal academics, community mediators, cultural experts, and civil society actors familiar with customary norms and dispute resolution. Participants were selected through purposive and snowball sampling. Interviews continued until theoretical saturation was achieved. All interviews were audio-recorded with consent, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using thematic analysis. NVivo software was used to organize transcripts, develop codes, compare emerging categories, and refine final themes. To enhance trustworthiness, the study used member checking, peer debriefing, reflexive memo-writing, and an audit trail. Analysis produced four main categories: customary law as an adaptive interpretive practice; negotiation between state law, religious norms, and social customs; rights-based reinterpretation of tradition; and digital-transnational pressures on local legal consciousness. Participants described customary law not as a fixed inheritance but as a living normative repertoire that changes through migration, media exposure, international rights language, urban diversity, and generational negotiation. While older participants emphasized continuity, authority, and communal legitimacy, younger and legally trained participants highlighted gender equality, individual rights, procedural fairness, and compatibility with formal law. The findings suggest that globalization does not simply weaken customary law; rather, it changes the conditions under which custom is interpreted, justified, and contested. In contemporary societies, customary law survives when it becomes dialogical, flexible, rights-conscious, and institutionally compatible with formal legal systems.