This ethnographic account of legal pluralism in the simultaneously post-conflict and disaster situation in Aceh studies what is probably the fastest changing legal system in the Muslim world. Addressing changes in both the national legal system of Indonesia and the regional legal structure in the province of Aceh, it focuses on the encounter between diverse patterns of legal reasoning advocated by multiple actors or put forward by different institutions (local, national and international; official and unofficial; or judicial, political and social cultural) attendant to the vast array of issues arising in the wake of the December 2004 earthquake and tsunami in Aceh.
As well as covering disputes about rights to land and other forms of property, it also investigates disputes about power relations, the conflict of rules, gender relationships, the right to make decisions, and prevailing norms. It presents disputes on multiple levels and in various forums, either through negotiation or adjudication, regardless of whether they are settled or not. The cases involve various actors from villages, the courts, the provincial government and the legislature, the national Supreme Court and the central government of Indonesia.