ABSTRACT
Expert knowledge is present in legal decision-making in various ways. This chapter characterizes expert authority by situating it in the broader theoretical debate on authority. One thing shown by the informal and dynamic aspects of liquidity is the intertwinement of factual authority in a sociological sense with the dimension of legitimacy. Although it is important sociologically to see the shift away from formality as an empirical phenomenon, to understand it fully it needs to be made part of a normative account. The chapter links the notion of practical authority to the applicability of the rule of law and argues for a specific understanding of rule of law standards that is suitable for a transnational context. It argues that variations in the functional domain of expertise require contextualization of rule of law standards and suggest that institutionalization of such standards is a promising way to safeguard rule of law conformity.
