Contractual Knowledge: One Hundred Years of Legal Experimentation in Global Markets, edited by Grégoire Mallard and Jérôme Sgard, extends the scholarship of law and globalization in two important directions. First, it provides a unique genealogy of global economic governance by explaining the transition from English law to one where global exchanges are primarily governed by international, multilateral, and finally, transnational legal orders. Second, rather than focusing on macro-political organizations, like the League of Nations or the International Monetary Fund, the book examines elements of contracts, including how and by whom they were designed and exactly who (experts, courts, arbitrators, or international organizations) interpreted, upheld, and established the legal validity of these contracts. By exploring such micro-level aspects of market exchanges, this collection unveils the contractual knowledge that led to the globalization of markets over the last century.

'Getting global markets right means looking seriously at what Justice Holmes once famously called 'the operations of the law' - and this book does that beautifully.' Fabian Muniesa, Ecole des Mines de Paris and author of The Provoked Economy
'This book illuminates a key but overlooked facet of the making of globalization: the power that lawyers, and the international private law they make, hold in shaping contractual expectations, fulfillments and failures.' Nitsan Chorev, Harmon Family Professor of Sociology and International Studies, Brown University and author of Remaking US Trade Policy: From Protectionism to Globalization
'Assembling outstanding contributions from world-class scholars, Contractual Knowledge offers a unique contribution to our understanding of the chaotic history of the present international legal order.' Joseph Nathan Cohen, City University of New York, Queens College
'… this book offers a set of insightful and convincing arguments which explain how governments and other international actors created and shared their interpretations of contracts. These ideas were often disputed by other groups. With a broad coverage of jurisdictions and legal systems, it provides much for those with an interest in globalization, international transactions and the decline of national bargaining power.' Victoria Barnes, EH.Net

Grégoire Mallard is Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology and Sociology of Development at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva. Jérôme Sgard is Professor of Political Economy at Sciences Po, Paris.