Analysis of the power of multinational corporations in moulding international law on intellectual property rights.

Cioffi argues that highly politicized reform of corporate governance law has reshaped power relations within the public corporation in favor of financial interests, contributed to the profound crises of capitalism, and eroded its political foundations.

Transnational merchant law, which is mistakenly regarded in purely technical and apolitical terms, is a central mediator of domestic and global political/legal orders. By engaging with literature in international law, international relations and international political economy, the author develops the conceptual and theoretical foundations for analyzing the political significance of international economic law. In doing so, she illustrates the private nature of the interests that this evolving legal order has served over time. The book makes a sustained and comprehensive analysis of transnational merchant law and offers a radical critique of global capitalism.

The aim of this edited collection of essays is to examine the relationship between private law and power – both the public power of the state and the 'private' power of institutions and individuals. It describes and critically assesses the way that private law doctrines, institutions, processes and rules express, moderate, facilitate and control relationships of power. The various chapters of this work examine the dynamics of the relationship between private law and power from a number of different perspectives – historical, theoretical, doctrinal and comparative. They have been commissioned from leading experts in the field of private law, from several different Commonwealth Jurisdictions (Australia, the UK, Canada and New Zealand), each with expertise in the particular sphere of their contribution. They aim to illuminate the past and assist in resolving some contemporary, difficult legal issues relating to the shape, scope and content of private law and its difficult relationship with power.

The Oxford Handbook of the New Private Law promises to help redefine and reinvigorate the subject of private law, a domain that includes property, contract, and tort law, as well as intellectual property, unjust enrichment, and equity. It emphasizes cross-cutting perspectives and relations between areas of private law, with special attention to the doctrines and structures of the law-an approach now known as "the New Private Law." This perspective includes explanation, justification, and criticism of existing law, reflecting the conviction of the editors that it makes sense to know what the law is in order to be in a position to criticize and reform it. The Handbook will be an essential resource for legal scholars interested in the future of this important field.

New Private Law Theory is pluralist, comparative, application-oriented, transnational and reflects critical approaches.

This work explores the relationships between legal institutions and political and economic transformation. It argues that as law is enlisted to help produce the profound economic and sociotechnical shifts that have accompanied the emergence of the informational economy, it is changing in fundamental ways.