Chapter 2 introduces the various legal forums that together constitute a loose chain of institutions available to men and women as they seek to resolve their gendered and marital disputes: namely, ankhoswe (matrilineal family representatives), traditional authorities, police victim support units, and magistrates’ courts. These institutions are placed in historical context, and also considered from the perspective of contemporary disputants who often deal with them sequentially, moving between so-called ‘traditional’ settings and more ‘modern’ venues and encountering various constellations of custom, human rights, and state law as they go.