It is with great sadness that we note the passing of John Griffiths. John developed his interest in sociology of law in the early 1970s and he started teaching this subject in 1973 at New York University. He moved to the University of Groningen in 1976, were he was appointed Professor in 1977. Until his retirement in 2015 he lived and worked in Groningen. He was one of the founding fathers of the Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law and will be remembered for his contribution in early debates about the content and scope of the concept of legal pluralism. John will be missed by his many former-colleagues, graduate students and friends.