Europe and the Standardization of the Law: Past and Present

European contributions, in the past, to standardize law in a variety of ways can be considered to be substantial. It may be said that all previous waves of globalization of law have had a distinct European flavour. Currently, the domestic law of countries from all continents either belong to, or are greatly influenced by, the two major legal systems: continental law and common law. It should be pointed out that the notion of sovereignty, the organization of power through the state in its modern form, the law that regulates the relations amongst states, are all, originally, European constructions.