From the One to the Many: A Conception of Law from a Citizen's Perspective

Description

Abstract The socio-legal insights of legal pluralism have found their way into the work of various domains of legal scholarship. Most promising are the developments in the theory of international law, where interactionist and constructivist accounts are proposed in which the national state no longer dominates (e.g. Brunnee & Toope 2008). Curiously, general jurisprudence lags behind: with a few exceptions (Twining, Tamanaha) jurisprudence and legal philosophy have not taken up the challenge of moving beyond a state-dominated concept of law. In this paper I will address the issue of how a general conception of law can take into account the contribution non-state actors make to the development of law. I will argue that this requires developing a citizen's perspective on law in two ways: first, law needs to be regarded as guiding the actions and interactions of ordinary citizens and, second, the impact of citizen's actions on the development of law needs to be theorized. As an illustration, I will look at consumer initiatives for fair trade. Injustices in international trade, such as labor issues in low-wage countries, are difficult to tackle within a state law framework. Different actors, from the International Labour Organization, industrial branch organizations, labour unions to national governments, play a role in attempts at regulation. What is the role of 'bottom-up' consumer actions on the regulation of trade? Does it make sense to see these as contributions to legal change?

Period	30 May 2010
Event title	Law and Society Association Annual Meeting
Event type	Other
Location	ChicagoShow on map