The many voices of the law in a globalised world: legal monism, legal pluralism, and the new tasks of comparative law

This contribution examines the evolution of the law on a global scale. Globalization failed to establish a new planetary order, run by a world government, contrary to what some nineteenth century thinkers maintained. What emerged in the last century is a fragmented world order, mostly based on the coordination of sectorial regimes operating at the world level, and the mutual recognition of regulations that have transnational dimensions. Under these conditions, the notion of law as a byproduct of sovereign power is largely obsolete. Legal monism now gives way to legal pluralism. The contribution highlights some limits of pluralists notions of the law, and goes on to argue that comparative law, legal anthropology, and language and translation studies are among the best tools to study the dynamics of the law in this new context.