LEGAL PERSONALITY IN INTERNATIONAL LAW: REVISITING THE CONCEPTS OF NON-STATE ENTITIES AND TRANSNATIONAL CORPORATIONS

Abstract

In the last decades actors in international law are witnessing the intensive strengthening of normative ties of a series of non state entities like transnational corporations, international non-governmental organizations and international terrorist groups etc with international law. Due to the traditional statecentrism of the doctrine of international legal personality in contemporary international law, there is a tendency of using in this context such terms as participants in international law, users of international law, non state actors in international law or terms focusing on specific international legal rights and obligations of a particular entity. The paper gives an overview of existing and emerging international legal rights and obligations of transnational corporations as an example of prominent non-state entities in international law. On the basis of this overview the author analyzes some of the basic theoretical issues related to international legal personality – the issue of the necessary nature and scope of legal capacity in defining a subject of international law. The paper concludes with a recommendation for a new paradigm shift to clothe these transnational corporations and some non state actors with legal personality in International Law.