The Present State of Transnational Law

Abstract

When the Storrs Lectures which I delivered at the Yale Law School in 1956 were published under the title “Transnational Law”, the term was not new—it was not an original creation of the author’s. I referred in a footnote to a number of sources where the term had already ap­peared but not to others such as Schwarzenberger, Rabel and Inglis; some writers, whom I did not cite, called my attention to the omission. The jibes of some of the reviewers were launched with devastating humour which gave me much enjoyment. Cheshire and Yntema described my approach as a revival of the theory of Savigny but actually it was by no means so profound. Apparently, however, there are those who found useful my suggestion that we need a term which would include “all law which regulates actions or events that transcend national frontiers”, which includes “both civil and criminal aspects ... what we know as public and private international law and ... national law both public and private ... Transnational situations ... may involve individuals, corporations, States, or other groups”. There are now a number of journals of transnational law published in the United States. The first, I believe, was the Columbia Journal of Transnational Law, now in its eleventh volume, and the most recent with which I am familiar is the Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law which adopted that name in 1971. Dr. Ahmet Gunduz Okcun of the University of Ankara, published in 1968 a volume entitled “Trans-Municipal Law, a Critical Analysis of Private International Law” and he writes that in choosing that term he was inspired by my Transnational Law. Dr. Eigen Langen has written extensively on Transnationales Handelsrecht and has explained his adoption of the adjective “transnational”. I cite, among his recent writings, an article in the Yearbook of the World Conference World Peace Through Law, 1967, Geneva, and “From Private International Law to Transnational Commercial Law” in The Comparative and International Law Journal of Southern Africa, July, 1969, p. 313. My book, in translations, has been published in Arabic by Modern Cairo Bookshop, 1966; as Derecho Transnacional by Editorial F. Trillas, S.A. Mexico, D.F., 11967; and as Direito Transnacional by Fundo de Cultura, S.A. Rio de Janeiro, 1965. Editions in French and Japanese have been undertaken.