dc.description | Children often wonder why things are the way they are. Although a child
appears to enjoy what can become a never-ending game of asking ‘but why?’
after every answer given by an adult, the child is innocent enough to be dissatisfied
with what the adult is forced by experience to take for granted. Children
are naturally curious and question what the adult has become accustomed
not to question. The child’s logic challenges the adult’s custom. So might the
curious social observer challenge the legal status quo. In this vein, I seek to
investigate what globalisation can teach us about law in the Western tradition,
and what the Western legal tradition can teach us about globalisation. The subtitle
of this book anticipates my conclusion that globalisation demonstrates
recurring patterns of law and authority. Recognising these patterns is crucial to
advancing law in the third millennium. To appreciate these patterns requires the
child’s sustained wonder, and the uncommon sense that the world we see today
began long, long before the adult’s lifetime. | en_US |