Focus ROMI.HR

Law was always a crucial element in the history of mankind. Through centuries, it evolved to include and further regulate new problems or to ensure that the rights and obligations of individuals are protected. The last reason was, originally, also one of the main factors that led to the creation of a series of laws and regulations: that of protecting individuals from the absolute power of rulers, which, as we just mentioned, was at the core of the new concept of State.

For all these reasons, whenever we think about the idea of law, we usually refer to the broad system of rules that is at place in a given country. This includes, first and foremost, the country’s constitutional law, which enlists all the principles and structure of the State, as well as the form of government, the basic norms about voting and elections, how political representation works, etc. To give a more concrete example, the constitutional law is the one where one can find how is the Parliament formed, if the Prime Minister is elected by citizens or nominated by Parliamentarians, if there is a King or a President at the head of the State, and whether the Head of State has only representative powers, or rather if he/she can take political decisions and actually lead the country.

However, this perspective, although very widespread and somehow needed to simplify significantly complex topics like these legal ones, usually puts aside legal systems that have been crafted by smaller groups, both at the regional and minority level. All these customs, traditions, punishments, or even acts that are considered to be a crime by these smaller systems, are more often than not left behind in national systems, but are still very present among the members of these communities. This causes a potential conflict between the two legal areas. 

Here is where Roma people enter into the conversation. Just like many other minority groups, and especially in the case of groups who have a century-long history, Roma people also elaborated their own list of rules that have been traditionally regulating the roles and relations among individuals. Differently from other groups, however, it is much harder for scholars and researchers to study Romani law, for at least two main reasons. First of all, just like it happens with Romanì in linguistic terms, it is hard to claim that there is just one Romani law. Instead, it would be better to remember that ‘Romani’ is more often than not an umbrella term, and that even though there seem to be some common principles across Roma communities all over the world, this does not imply that all communities share the exact same rules. Moreover, Roma legal tradition has been mainly preserved and transferred through generations orally, rather than in a written form. This means not only that there is no fixed version of laws, which are much more prone to be changed and interpreted differently, but also that there are no systematic sources that can be checked by people outside the communities.

A remarkable job in this sense has been done by a group of scholars, led by Walter O. Weyrauch, in the early 2000s. A group of essays and papers on the theme of Romani law was eventually collected in the form of a single volume, entitled Gypsy Law: Romani Legal Traditions and Cultures, published in 2001 with the scope of shedding a light over the topic, and to produce some high-quality research on a theme that is often neglected by the members of academia.

The book reconstructs the values that, according to the interviews and the research conducted by the scholars, are at the core of Romani law applied in communities located in Spain, Northern Europe, and even in some regions of the USA. The focus is definitely on the dichotomy between pureness and pollution, which seems to regulate many aspects of relationships, both among Roma and between Roma and non-Roma. The basic idea is that the human body is divided in two by the waist line: whatever is above that is pure; whatever is below, instead, is polluted. This division is then applied to different situations: for example, a pregnant lady would traditionally be considered as polluted, as well as newborns up to six weeks of life. These taboos were remarkably strict in the past, but overtime the exposition to non-Roma communities and, in general, internal changes in communities, led to a relaxation of these rules.

Another interesting aspect in this research is how justice is administered. Of course, given that we are discussing a separate legal system, we shall not expect to see a Western kind of judges, courts, and lawyers dealing with legally-related cases. Instead, we shall keep in mind that virtually every Roma community can establish its own way of adjudication, although available data show that there usually are courts, called kris, whose decisions are final and binding. Kris are usually mainly formed to adjudicate over cases concerning Roma people, whereas it is quite rare to see the same happening to deal with conflicts between Roma and non-Roma people. If the kris decides for a sanction, its implementation is usually in the hands of the individuals in the community, with peer pressure replacing the concept of law enforcement as we know it today.

In this respect, an interesting phenomenon was taking place in the United States at the time of writing: according to the authors, US courts were slowly starting to interact with Roma courts in cases in which Roma people were involved, thus giving a new value to Roma culture and legal traditions, almost nobilitating it.

However, studying other legal cultures is relevant because interacting with them can be a starting point to improve other legal systems, even for people who are not fully involved in the sphere of law from a personal or working perspective. Additionally, and maybe from a more sociological outlook, understanding what is (and is not) allowed in an ethnic minority can allow us to develop a more tolerant and less eurocentric idea of what is the other. Especially when discussing Roma people and their lives, it is fundamental to leave behind the racist depiction of Roma as wild, untamed individuals, almost closer to animals than to human beings, who only follow the law of nature and who cannot be considered as civilized people. It may be hard for non-Roma people to understand the values and principles protected by Romani law, but this does not entail that such rules are senseless or even stupid.

In conclusion, the study of Romani law not only reflects on the internal dynamics of Roma communities but also challenges us to reconsider our often rigid and eurocentric understanding of legal systems. 

Acknowledging that law can take different forms, sometimes unwritten, sometimes community-based, reminds us that the very essence of law is to regulate relationships, protect values, and ensure cohesion within a group. Romani legal traditions may differ from national laws, but they embody the same fundamental human pursuit of order and justice. Recognizing and respecting these traditions is therefore not just an academic exercise, but also a step toward fostering inclusivity, tolerance, and a more nuanced appreciation of cultural diversity within modern societies.