Intimations of Global Law

Montesquieu lecture at Tilburg Law School on 21 June 2012 by Prof. Neil Walker, Regius Chair of Public Law and the Law of Nature and Nations from the University of Edinburgh.
Outline:
Ideas of law as a 'global' phenomenon have recurred and developed over time. The aim of the lecture is to examine whether these ideas have gained a new significance in the contemporary world.
The lecture examines what lessons we can draw about the nature and limits of law conceived as a 'global' phenomenon. In particular, the tensions between global law as (1) planned or evolved; (2) as an integrated or as a fragmented phenomenon, (3) as fluid or final, and (4) as an instrument of or rather as a counterpoint to encompassing visions of global development.