Nineteenth Century Perspectives on Private International Law

by Roxana Banu

Overview

Private International Law is often criticized for failing to curb private power in the transnational realm. The field appears disinterested or powerless in addressing global economic and social inequality. Scholars have frequently blamed this failure on the separation between private and public international law at the end of the nineteenth century and on private international law's increasing alignment with private law.

Through a contextual historical analysis, Roxana Banu questions these premises. By reviewing a broad range of scholarship from six jurisdictions (the United States, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, and the Netherlands) she shows that far from injecting an impetus for social justice, the alignment between private and public international law introduced much of private international law's formalism and neutrality. She also uncovers various nineteenth century private law theories that portrayed a social, relationally constituted image of the transnational agent, thus contesting both individualistic and state-centric premises for regulating cross-border inter-personal relations.

Overall, this study argues that the inherited shortcomings of contemporary private international law stem more from the incorporation of nineteenth century theories of sovereignty and state rights than from theoretical premises of private law. In turn, by reconsidering the relational premises of the nineteenth century private law perspectives discussed in this book, Banu contends that private international law could take centre stage in efforts to increase social and economic equality by fostering individual agency and social responsibility in the transnational realm.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198819844
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	09/26/2018
Series:	The History and Theory of International Law
Pages:	346
Product dimensions:	9.30(w) x 6.20(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Roxana Banu, Assistant Professor, Western Law School, Ontario

Roxana Banu is an Assistant Professor of Law at Western Law School, Ontario, Canada. Prior to joining Western Law School, Banu taught Private International Law at Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, Canada and at Fordham Law School in New York City.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction2. Individual- and State-Centered Perspectives in Nineteenth Century Private International Law3. . Individual- and State-Centered Perspectives in Nineteenth Century Europe4. Tracing the Relational Internationalist Perspective in Europe After World War II5. Individual-centered and State-centered Internationalist Perspectives in American Private International Law Theory6. Recognition, Rights, and Reasonable Expectations7. Legitimacy and Autonomy8. Universalism Versus Uniformity9. Conclusions