Property, corporations, and constitutionalisation in a global political economy

Abstract

In the Law of Political Economy perspective, private property is the corner stone right. Constitutionally, it amounts to a right of decision-making as a matter of principle towards the object of property. It is a decentralisation of the State’s sovereignty. This feature entitles owners to set rules in connection with the use of their property to which users of their property must submit. This is the origin of the authority relationships within business firms. Within liberal constitutional orders, this strong enabling characteristic of property was originally designed for individuals only. But business corporations, subsequently introduced in the legal system, have found the way to have access to these same rights. Concentrating productive assets, they have in effect concentrated rights of decision-making as a matter if principle. And the global firms (or enterprises) using corporations to structure their activities now make use of their prerogatives in a global legal space in which the Law of Political Economy is unable to reconnect economic and political issues. One way out of this major issue raised by globalisation is to constitutionalise world private governments. Recent court cases addressing climate change demonstrate that this is a viable solution. 1

Keywords

• property
• law of political economy
• corporation
• multinational
• globalisation
• constitutionalisation