Pyramid of Global Law
The New Pyramid of Global Law
Rafael Domingo is Professor of Law at the University of Navarra School of Law and Director of the Maiestas Institute.
Abstract: Following the traditional example of the so-called Kelsen pyramid, the author proposes a new kind of legal pyramid, integrating the incipient concept of global law, which has superseded international law. At the top rests the human person, from which all law ultimately arises (ius ex persona oritur). The base of the pyramid, heptagonal in shape, would be made up of that same humanity, organized as a function of an “anthroparchy.” The pyramid’s seven sides correspond to the seven formative principles of law: justice, rationality, coercion, universality, solidarity, subsidiarity, and horizontality. The three-dimensionality of the legal pyramid, a polyhedron, is reflected in the law’s individual, social, and universal dimensions. The last of these corresponds to global law.
Contents: 1. - The Pyramid’s Structure. 2. - Legal Three-Dimensionality. 3. - The Person, at the Peak of the Legal Pyramid. 4. - Humanity, the Pyramid’s Base. 5. - The Pyramid’s Seven Faces. A. -Principle of Justice. B. - Principle of Rationality. C. - Principle of Coercion. D. - Principle of Universality. E. - Principle of Solidarity. F. - Principle of Subsidiarity. G. - Principle of Horizontality.
A globalized world requires global law, just as a well-organized political community needs constitutional law, or a company, business law. Globalization is an indisputable fact, with all its advantages and drawbacks. Global law, on the other hand, is still in its infancy.
Global law is often discussed, but little is known about it. It is like a fashion that has not yet stood the test of time. It seems that everything legal is supposed to be global, just as, years ago, everything was supposed to be “environmental” or “fat free.” Some think that global law is just international law finessed to obscure the fact that international law, as
Rafael Domingo is Professor of Law at the University of Navarra School of Law and Director of the Maiestas Institute.
Abstract: Following the traditional example of the so-called Kelsen pyramid, the author proposes a new kind of legal pyramid, integrating the incipient concept of global law, which has superseded international law. At the top rests the human person, from which all law ultimately arises (ius ex persona oritur). The base of the pyramid, heptagonal in shape, would be made up of that same humanity, organized as a function of an “anthroparchy.” The pyramid’s seven sides correspond to the seven formative principles of law: justice, rationality, coercion, universality, solidarity, subsidiarity, and horizontality. The three-dimensionality of the legal pyramid, a polyhedron, is reflected in the law’s individual, social, and universal dimensions. The last of these corresponds to global law.
Contents: 1. - The Pyramid’s Structure. 2. - Legal Three-Dimensionality. 3. - The Person, at the Peak of the Legal Pyramid. 4. - Humanity, the Pyramid’s Base. 5. - The Pyramid’s Seven Faces. A. -Principle of Justice. B. - Principle of Rationality. C. - Principle of Coercion. D. - Principle of Universality. E. - Principle of Solidarity. F. - Principle of Subsidiarity. G. - Principle of Horizontality.
A globalized world requires global law, just as a well-organized political community needs constitutional law, or a company, business law. Globalization is an indisputable fact, with all its advantages and drawbacks. Global law, on the other hand, is still in its infancy.
Global law is often discussed, but little is known about it. It is like a fashion that has not yet stood the test of time. It seems that everything legal is supposed to be global, just as, years ago, everything was supposed to be “environmental” or “fat free.” Some think that global law is just international law finessed to obscure the fact that international law, as