Legal Heterodoxy in the Global South

This volume challenges the common perception that legal systems in developing countries are outdated or plagued by enforcement issues. Instead, it presents detailed case studies of private law in the Global South, showcasing how countries in the region have embraced legal doctrines that diverge from traditional approaches in the Global North. Chapters cover core areas of private law, including contracts, property, torts, corporations, and legal personality. The case studies range from India’s adoption of corporate social responsibility rules to Argentina’s protection of hyper-vulnerable consumers. This volume demonstrates how many countries have incorporated social and distributional concerns into their private law regimes. Through these examples, the book presents a set of underappreciated and innovative legal developments in the Global South. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Kevin E. Davis is a leading scholar of the relationship between law and economic development. His publications include Between Impunity and Imperialism: The Regulation of Transnational Bribery (2019) as well as Governance by Indicators: Global Power through Quantification and Rankings (2012, with Kingsbury and Merry). He teaches at New York University.

Mariana Pargendler is a leading scholar of corporate law and comparative corporate governance. She is coauthor of The Anatomy of Corporate Law: A Comparative and Functional Approach (3rd ed., 2017) and the recipient of writing prizes from the European Corporate Governance Institute and the American Society of Comparative Law. She teaches at Harvard Law School.