Taekema, Sanne --- "The Point of Law: The Interdependent Functionality of State and Non-State Regulation" [2008] ELECD 306; in van Schooten, Hanneke; Verschuuren, Jonathan (eds), "International Governance and Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2008)

Book Title: International Governance and Law

Editor(s): van Schooten, Hanneke; Verschuuren, Jonathan

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781847207272

Section: Chapter 4

Section Title: The Point of Law: The Interdependent Functionality of State and Non-State Regulation

Author(s): Taekema, Sanne

Number of pages: 18

Extract:

4. The point of law: the interdependent
functionality of state and non-state
regulation
Sanne Taekema

1. INTRODUCTION

The relation between non-state law and state legislatures can be fruitfully
understood in the context of alternatives to legislation. The search for alter-
natives to legislation is not a merely academic exercise; it is pursued because
of the perceived defects of traditional legislation. Other governmental
regulatory instruments, privatization and deregulation are among the
options considered in order to make law work better. In this chapter, I will
focus on the basic claim that underlies such discussions, namely that law
should be assessed according to its success in performing key functions in
society. More specifically, I will take a comparative perspective on the func-
tionality of state and non-state regulation.
Following general results of socio-legal research that show the limited
influence of official law on people's behaviour, the questions I wish to pur-
sue here are the following. To what extent, and in which respects, is state
law needed to fulfil important functions, claimed to be legal, in society?
And to what extent, and in virtue of which characteristics, can non-state
regulation fulfil these functions? In what way do state and non-state regu-
lation interact in the performance of these functions? With regard to this
interaction, I will investigate what the remaining function of state legisla-
tion is when compared with forms of non-state regulation.
Underlying this project is an interest in the question of the ...