ABSTRACT State laws purport to exercise dominion, notwithstanding people’s preferences for other normative orderings. In Nigeria, an example of this claim is the Limitation of Dowry Law, which purports to regulate the payment of bridewealth. However, the effectiveness of this law is so poor that it is practically a zombie law. So, to what extent do non-state laws wield normative authority in the context of legal and institutional pluralism in South-East Nigeria? Using a needs-based approach and field data collected in 2016, this paper argues that the Dowry Law demonstrates how people are not impressed with policies that purport to regulate their lives without adequate sensitivity to the lived realities that influence their social choices. It further argues that the effectiveness of legal pluralism is dependent on the interaction of the values of indigenous law with the cultural autonomy and economic needs of people who observe non-state laws.

中文翻译：

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尼日利亚法律和制度多元化中非国家法律的规范权威

摘要 州法律声称行使统治权，尽管人们偏爱其他规范性命令。在尼日利亚，这种主张的一个例子是《嫁妆限制法》，该法旨在规范彩礼的支付。然而，这条法律的有效性是如此之差，以至于它实际上是一条僵尸法律。那么，在尼日利亚东南部的法律和制度多元化的背景下，非国家法律在多大程度上行使规范权威？本文使用基于需求的方法和 2016 年收集的现场数据，认为《嫁妆法》表明人们对旨在规范生活的政策没有留下深刻印象，而对影响他们社会选择的现实生活没有足够的敏感性。