Private Law 2.0: On the Role of Private Actors in a Post-National Society
Hague Institute for the Internationalisation of Law and Eleven International Publishing, 2011
24 Pages Posted: 6 Mar 2011 Last revised: 7 Mar 2011
Date Written: November 30, 2010
Abstract
This paper - delivered as the author's inaugural lecture on the 2010-2011 Maastricht-HiiL Chair on the Internationalisation of Law and therefore directed towards a general audience - challenges the prevailing paradigm that people's rights and obligations are primarily set by national law. The State monopoly in setting the law is rapidly being replaced by a multitude of new lawmakers that do not only include European and supranational institutions, but also private organisations. This phenomenon leads to the normative question how to deal with this emerging post-national private law. The approach chosen in this lecture is a functional one: the idea of codification is unpacked in terms of its functions. This means that it is established to what extent the functions that national codification of private law had in the past can be met in a different way in the future. To this end, attention is also paid to the role of legislators, private actors and law professors.
Keywords: Post-National Law, Codification, Private Actors, Future of Private Law
JEL Classification: K00
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation