Decolonising Legal Theory: The Rule of Law and the Legalisation of Legal Pluralism

This paper aims to show the theoretical limits of the rule of law concept when contrasted with legal pluralism, showing that it belongs to the modern/colonial matrix of laws, which creates an official law to the detriment of other illegalised and persecuted legal knowledge. This is a theoretical, qualitative, and decolonial research that gathers quantitative normative data, such as the expansion of the legalisation of legal pluralism to almost 40% of the world's countries. The originality consists of showing the links between law and coloniality and highlighting the theoretical crisis of the rule of law concept. In this scenario, the concept of the plural rule of law is put forward to continue the quest for epistemological justice.