Powerful minorities. Gli Europei d’Egitto e il diritto misto

Where a plural conception of law and an interdisciplinary approach of legal historical analysis are adopted, the word ‘minority’ can accept multiple
declinations and be used as a fertile hermeneutical tool. In the present essay, it works in the context of semi-colonial Egypt: a cosmopolitan and plural
environment in which Western communities are numerically minorities (as for language, religion, traditions etc.), but overall considered they coagulate in a ‘powerful minority’, which is based on the driving force of companies’ capitals, on the ideological force of the ‘superior civilization’ and on the shaping force of law. Th e experience of ‘mixed law’ (1875-1949) is an emblematic expression of its strenght.