Global Context Influences How a Country’s Legal System Develops

Global context influences how a country’s legal system develops

Introduction

Globalization and legal system go hand in hand. Both have evolved from the history and maintained its pace with development.

The beginning of law can be dated back to the Roman law in the 450 B.C. which was based on the customary law. Since then, the Roman law has been rediscovered by the middle ages and it was also taken up as a scholarly activity. Though treaties were there it never formed a source of law. It was only from 19th century onwards, laws took in more formal shapes in the form of codes (French Civil Codes in 1804 and German Civil Codes in 1900). The main objective of codification of law was to come to a use of single legislative instrument and universal unlike the common law.

The modern legal system operates on a set of legal institutions, procedures and rules. These systems are said to have emerged from different legal traditions such as common law, civil law, customary law, religious law, Asian legal tradition, etc. Though, the legal system of each country is shaped by its unique history and incorporates individual variations. Just like domestic laws, international laws are also based on the legal traditions and systems.

Similarly, globalization is also rooted in history. It evolved due to the effect of colonization, integration of developed countries, aftermath of world wars etc. which led to restoring of relations and increase in economies of scale. Globalization affects both domestic as well as the international arena thus affecting the legal systems in the world. As each country moves towards globalization, domestic law is not sufficient enough to regulate the following aspects of globalization; economic, political, cultural and ecological.

 As the world journeyed from civilization to modernization and then to globalization, so has the legal system evolved and changed rapidly.

2. Internationalization of domestic laws

Globalization not only affects the economy but also the law. It affects the areas which need to be regulated by law.

Domestic laws (national laws) are increasingly crossing borders, collaborating with foreign counsel and forming worldwide mergers, erasing ancient restrictions of common law systems. Globalization is gaining impetus due to expansion communication systems, the automation of processes, developments in information security, technology advancement, increase in mobility of people, goods and services, etc between two or more countries. This way the law changes the way the legal system functions and the processes involved in it.