Lex Sportiva and Lex Mercatoria

The idea about the emergence of "world law" is recently gaining popularity within the legal science. A definition of the term "world law" is given by Harold Berman--a prominent professor from Harward University and currently a chairman of the World Law Institute of the Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. According to Berman by "world law" is meant the common features of the legal systems of the world, and especially the body of customary law that is gradually being created by the people of the world in their transnational interrelationships. Included are many aspects of world economic law, such as bankers' letters of credit, negotiable instruments, and documentary trade terms. Included also inter alia is the world sports law enforced by the Court of Arbitration of Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland, and emerged in result of the uniform application and interpretation of legal rules in sport due to the activity of CAS. (1) The world sports law, currently referred to as Lex Sportiva, is deemed to be an autonomous body of rules having anational character. The concept of Lex Sportiva draws an analogy with the concept of Lex Mercatoria (the law merchant) as an anational legal system. This article makes a comparison between the historical developments of Lex Mercatoria as presented in the book of Harold J. Berman, Law and Revolution: The Formation of the Western Legal Tradition, on the one hand, and Lex Sportiva, on the other hand. This comparison is considered, in author's opinion, very useful for illustration of the legal situation, in which sport has found itself to be nowadays, could provide some clues for the future of the sport governance and could be helpful for the analysis of the alternative models of the future legal development in sport.