Operating International Law in a Global Context: Taking Circulation Seriously

Abstract

The operation of the international law (lato sensu), in the variety of global legal situations, has its own dynamism. It cannot result from the mere application of a method or a legal solution at a given moment, in a predetermined space and on a predetermined level, by a duly identified actor. It must be grasped in one movement. In a single situation, several laws must sometimes be mobilised, alternatively, cumulatively, at the same time or at different moments, in one or several spaces or on one or several levels, by one or by multiple actors. This distinctive dynamic, which the lawyer must be conscious of when passing from one context – national, international or European – to another, has an influence over the law, its uses and, sometimes, its content. The present article proposes to focus the analysis on the idea of circulation as a phenomenon and a constraint.