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Zumbansen, Peer --- "Transnational Law" [2006] ELECD 219; in Smits, M. Jan (ed), "Elgar Encyclopedia of Comparative Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2006)

Book Title: Elgar Encyclopedia of Comparative Law

Editor(s): Smits, M. Jan

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781845420130

Section: Chapter 68

Section Title: Transnational Law

Author(s): Zumbansen, Peer

Number of pages: 17

Extract:

68 Transnational law*
Peer Zumbansen


1 Introduction
The first usage of the term `transnational law' (TL) continues to be dis-
puted. While scholarship focused on the origins of the term for a long time,
it has since become apparent that the real challenge of TL lies in its scope
and conceptual aspiration (Jessup, 1956; Koh, 1996). Alongside the
domestic­international dichotomy that marked international law for a very
long time TL offers itself as a supplementary and challenging category
within interdisciplinary research on globalization and law. As famously
conceptualized in a series of lectures by Philip Jessup at Yale Law School
in 1956 (Jessup, 1956), TL `breaks the frames' (Teubner, 1997b) of tradi-
tional thinking about inter-state relationships by pointing to the myriad
forms of border-crossing relations among state and non-state actors. Now,
half a century after Jessup's lectures, one is well advised to reread the slim
but nevertheless immensely rich volume. Without many references, Jessup
invites his audience to imagine an altogether different conceptual frame-
work. This framework would help to reflect on the dichotomies underlying
and informing international law while decisively moving onward to
embrace a wider and more adequate view of global human activities. Jessup
writes that he `shall use the term "transnational law" to include all law
which regulates actions or events that transcend national frontiers. Both
public and private international law are included, as are other rules which
do not wholly fit into such standard categories' (Jessup, 1956, p. 2).
When ...