Abstract

The dominating view of legal effectiveness is based on the idea of a gap between what the law states, or commands, and how the population acts. When behaviour is not in accordance with law, the legal system or a norm is not considered effective. This idea is challenged in this article. Previous research on legal transplantation is used as reference for an analysis of legal application and legal effectiveness from a sociological and systems theoretical perspective. It is well known that imported laws functions less well than internally developed laws, but explanations differ. According to the currently known effectiveness concept the poorly functioning imported law is a paradox. In this article a new effectiveness concept is developed. It is shown how the poor functioning of legal transplants can be explained using our new approach to legal application and legal effectiveness.