Transnational Law as an Excuse. How teaching law without the state makes legal education better

The purpose of this essay is to argue in favour of the idea that we should consider ‘transnational law’ as a legitimate part of legal education, including not only state but also non-state forms of normativity. The paper is structured as follows. First, I suggest that in the face of the existing conceptual controversy around the concept of ‘transnational law’ we should adopt a pragmatic perspective, focusing on the uses we can make of the concept ‘transnational law’ for legal theory and, in 1 Professor at ESADE Law School, Barcelona. This essay would not have been possible had the CTLS not existed. Much of the inspiration for writing this paper comes from the semester I spent as a professor at the CTLS headquarters in London (fall 2009). In particular, I want to thank all those with whom I shared that period of time, who helped to create an intellectually challenging and absolutely friendly atmosphere: Scott Foster (administrative director), Carrie Menkel-Meadow and Franz Werro (academic directors), and my colleagues Christian Armbruster, Dora Neo, Christiana Fountoulakis, Victor Ramraj, Ken Roach, Francisco Satiro, and Karsten Thorn. I am also indebted to the students participating in the program, and the many speakers and visitors that we had the privilege to receive, as well as to the other CTLS professors and academic authorities that made possible the (very inspiring) CTLS conference held at the University of Torino in May 2010. I also want to express my gratitude to Ana Benetó Santa Cruz for helping with English and providing comments on the manuscript.