Network paradigm of private international law: concept contouring

Abstract

Modern society is characterized as a network, which makes it necessary to rethink its superstructure — law — in the logic of the network paradigm of scientific knowledge. At the interface of law and information technology, new legal and sub-legal phenomena arise that need to be conceptualized. International private law, being in the forefront of the changes that are taking place, possesses a special methodology that can adapt to the network society. The paper analyzes the individual signs of the formation of a new paradigm. One of the most revolutionary products of the Network are global technological or digital platforms, within which predominantly cross-border private law relationships are formed, mediated by transactions, collectively understood as e-commerce or m-commerce. The legal analysis suggests that americanization of «platform law» is observed. Of interest for the study of the network paradigm is the emerging practice of online arbitration in disputes involving consumers. A significant role in the regulation of modern cross-border relations is assigned to the norms of non-state regulation, traditionally conceptualized through the prism of lex mercatoria, which is now systematized in the logic of the legal system, highlighting the subsystems brought to life by globalization processes. The corresponding changes testify to the modification of the architecture of the regulation of cross-border relations.