People choose to use customary law for a wide variety of reasons. Some choose to maximize ethnic identity, some local solidarity, and some adaptation to modern conditions. Customary law provides an important element in all of these situations, whether as a symbol to be treasured, an ideal to be regained, or a tradition to be honored in the adaptation. To blindly assume that customary law will produce sustainable development is naïve. Michael Soulé suggests that the myth of moral superiority of non-western traditions “has led guilt-ridden Westerners to glorify the environmental ethics of non-western traditions … Some indigenous people can provide excellent guidance, some not.”

Customary law in its original form may be a vulnerable instrument wholly dependent upon popular recognition, but it is also a valuable source that should be studied in the never-ending search for ways to accommodate to an environment that has been and will remain constantly changing. The growing volume of case studies of customary systems is evidence of a growing recognition that such systems may be a source of wise resource policies.

Reasons to choose customary law

Why might policy-makers choose to implement customary law systems? A review of the literature suggests that the following are some of the arguments most commonly heard in favor of customary law systems.

Empowerment

Giving a group's customs legal stature may reinforce a group's sense of responsibility that comes with law-making power. Resource user groups themselves often see their traditional customs as a source of potential power for their group.