The Untapped Potential of Transsystemic Thinking

Abstract

This paper looks to the past, present and future of the unique pedagogical program that defines McGill’s Faculty of Law. Dubbed the Transsystemic Program, this method of teaching and thinking about law is characterized by an integrated approach to law, where courses blend the teaching of multiple legal traditions and systems, and introduce a hybridity of legal orders into the classroom. The retreat from the focus on the law of a given jurisdiction has had multiple repercussions which are examined in this paper. The thesis proposed in the paper is that this method of thinking about law is increasingly important for three major reasons: 1) the ability it inculcates in jurists to help them deal with novel problems, with which traditional methods of legal development, such as caselaw, are currently wrestling; 2) the agility and creativity it develops in jurists, which can help them implement the novel ways they are currently being called upon to solve legal problems (namely through collaborative solutions crafted by the parties as opposed to adjudicative solutions imposed by the court system); and 3) its increased relevance given the development of a novel trend inviting the cross-fertilization of ideas in contemporary judicial methodology.