Globalisation and the Western Legal Tradition: Recurring Patterns of Law and Authority

Abstract:     
What can 'globalisation' teach us about law in the Western tradition? This new work seeks to explore that question by analysing key ideas and events in the Western legal tradition, including the Papal Revolution, the Protestant Reformations and the Enlightenment. Addressing the role of law, morality and politics, it looks at the creation of orders which offer the possibility for global harmony, including the United Nations and the European Union. It also considers the unification of international commercial laws in the attempt to understand Western law in a time of accelerating cultural interconnections. Without taking ideas of globalisation, law and Western history for granted, this book evaluates Western precedents in the attempt to understand international and local trends in law and authority in a practical way today.

Keywords: globalization, legal history, United Nations, European Union, Holy Roman Empire, Papal Revolution, Protestant Reformation, French Revolution, lex mercatoria, human rights, free trade, legal education, legal pluralism, codification, harmonization, general jurisprudence

Accepted Paper Series