ABSTRACT
The principal unit of territorial government for the last two centuries has been the sovereign nation-state. This is the paradigm within which all debates on the territorial organisation of government are conducted. We describe legal systems and their institutions in reference to the national level. For example, legal structures and law can be described as ‘national’ or ‘international’. The assumption is that legal systems can be organised either on a national or on an international basis, but always with reference to the national unit. Any other method of organisation has to be explained in relation to the dominant nation-state paradigm and is regarded as an exception to it.
