The Burundian justice system shows its unusual and comprehensive nature in its combination of distinct forms and periods, in contrast to the purely institutional or procedural dimensions of a traditional justice system. The courts, lawyers, and other institutions that make up Burundi’s justice system and the litigants it serves may use, appropriate or legitimize the system with borrowings from hybrid and competing practices. The legal and judiciary pluralism of this evolving justice system creates a space for criticism and different practices ; like a teeming laboratory, this pluralism teaches us much about justice – at least, it tells us how justice has evolved and what it may become.