Law in a World of Multiple Legal Orders

Law in a World of Multiple Legal Orders is an accessible introduction to law for students and general readers worldwide. It offers a foundational understanding of what law is and how it operates, while acknowledging that contemporary law is unavoidably cross-border. Starting with the basic idea of law and its relationship with justice, the book introduces the main legal traditions, courts, and constitutions, before moving on to civil procedure and litigation, legal borrowing between systems, international and supranational law – including European law – and the growing role of alternative dispute resolution, such as arbitration and mediation. Conceived as an international introduction to law that also serves as a natural gateway to international law, the book is designed to help students from different legal traditions understand the nature and functions of law, while giving them the conceptual tools needed to engage more deeply with the major fields of law, such as contract law (and the law of obligations more generally), criminal law, administrative law, corporate law, family law, and a multitude of others. It performs the conventional function of an introduction to law, laying the foundations for understanding the role of law and legal institutions in the contemporary world. By offering a modern and accessible introduction to law for the realities of a global and interconnected world, it helps students build a solid understanding of law across legal systems and brings together, in a single volume, what would normally take years to learn. This will be essential reading for introduction to law courses, as well as for courses in international, transnational, and comparative law.