This book investigates how armed insurgent groups establish and maintain judicial systems to govern territories under their control during periods of conflict. René Provost, a professor of law with extensive experience in international humanitarian law and human rights, utilizes a framework of legal pluralism to analyze how non-state actors replace or supplement state authority. By examining the internal logic of rebel justice, the author argues that these systems are not merely arbitrary but serve as essential tools for legitimacy and social order in war-torn regions.

Scholars and practitioners of international law recognize this work as a significant contribution to the study of non-state governance. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose, which provides a rigorous examination of how justice functions outside traditional state structures.