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Just as there isn't a generally accepted meaning of the term law, there still isn't a completely clear and defined meaning of the term autonomous law. There is a big interest for the autonomous law in practice and theory, sociology and law anthropology. Five main meanings are attributed to this term: autonomous law as a theoretic notion, a subsystem of law, source of law, law of work and autonomous identity law. When it comes to autonomous law as a theoretic notion it is closely linked with the idea of legal pluralism. This paper follows the development of the understanding of legal pluralism from Duguit, Ehrlich, Petrazycki, Gurvitch, through, Evan, Llewellyn, Hobel, to Vanderlinden and Jean-Guy Belley. The paper ends with 'a new legal pluralism' which has a tendency to become the only right school (legal orthodoxy). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today there is not a single generally accepted meaning of the term law, from which arise numerous misunderstandings and different definitions. The problem becomes even more complicated if we add an attribute autonomous before the expression law. As a result, there are many schools, theories, and definitions of autonomous law for example, social, living, and intuitive, while in practice various forms of autonomous law appear such as, customary, canon, statutory law and so on. This paper analyzes three groups of approaches to the concept of autonomous law: monistic, pluralistic, and so called statist pluralism. The author concludes that the monistic concept is incorrect, as well as the understanding of legal pluralism, if the law is reduced to the social law, or when they prefer to social to state law. An acceptable point of view is the compromise between the two and Gurvitch's definition of social law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Great interest in autonomous law first appears in theory, sociology and anthropology of law, and in legal practice. There have been numerous forms of autonomous law from common law, religious, statutory law, city and earthly law, guild law, autonomous labour law, commercial law to international law. In addition, the theory of law recognizes a number of types of autonomous law such as social, intuitive, living, integration law, etc. Just as there is no generally accepted meaning of the term law, there is not a completely clear and precise meaning of the term autonomous law. Besides the term autonomous law, the term soft law has been more and more in use lately. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]