Theorizing Transnational Legal Ordering

Vineet Bilkhu, Queen Mary University of London

EMERGENCE

International lawyer Philip Jessup, made an astute observation that lawyers needed to expand the legal concepts and doctrines in order to establish a clear understanding of the growing border-crossing human and institutional relations around the world. He opined that it is not possible to simply apply the ideas to the field of "conflict of laws," which encompasses both public and private international law. While he was writing in these two previously stated fields, he broadened his horizons to include international economic law during a time when the situation all over the world was completely disorganized. All of this took place during a time when the globe was in the process of reorganising itself after the Second World War, and all of the developing policies up until the 1960’s produced enormous tensions at a time when the concept of a "nation state" was highly prominent.

This was the point at which Jessup's use of "transnational" law reached its zenith. His unique "transnationalistic" perspective was criticised by some academics, who believed that it underestimated the opposition, posed by the nation states. Others, at the same time, were fascinated by the repercussions of international law, which at the time was an "inter-national" fledgling field that would undoubtedly contribute to an unstable political and economic climate on a worldwide scale after the Second World War. This said approach received recognition as a potential invitation to intrusively engage existing legal categories and frameworks.