The Transnational Exchange of Law Through Climate Change Litigation

Abstract

Climate change litigation continues to bash holes in the view of domestic legal systems as hermetically sealed units. Domestic cases are inspired by litigation elsewhere, actively fostered by transnational advocacy communities, and the decisions themselves are indicative of transjudicial influences and sometimes even dialogue on climate change. This chapter, written in 2021 to reflect the transnationalism of early climate change litigation, takes a close look at practices of transjudicialism in climate change litigation. In so doing, it seeks to disrupt some default patterns of studying the spread of law. By problematizing the practices of ‘finding’ influential climate law cases, measuring their citation and impact, and assuming their directions of influence, we set out to remove some of the blinders that prevent us from appreciating the full picture of climate change litigation’s transnationalism including the leadership of the Global South.

Keywords: Climate Litigation, Comparative Environmental Law, Transjudicial, Citation Practices, Transnational Law