Wereldrecht, Weltrecht en droit mondial

Abstract

In times of past crises, the term world law served both as rhetorical tool (to give people hope), and as key term in academic and political blueprints for a post-crisis world order. This article describes how world law was used in Dutch (wereldrecht), German (Weltrecht) and French (droit mondial) popular, political and academic debates. What did those terms mean in the past? And what is their actual and potential relevance in contemporary discussions? How can world law promote global solidarity in the present time? The article ends with some general reflections on the potential value of the world law tradition(s) in today’s debate on how to shape the international legal order in the (post)corona era.