This chapter discusses the history and evolution of international intellectual property rights (IPRs) protection, focusing on the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement. It examines the justifications for and debates surrounding the extension of developed country-style IPRs to developing nations, as well as the TRIPS provisions themselves. The chapter also addresses the conflicts between TRIPS and other international regimes, such as the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the significant public health concerns raised by TRIPS, particularly regarding access to essential medicines. Finally, it concludes by analysing the distributive impact of TRIPS and the challenges posed by emerging technologies like artificial intelligence.

Based on an in-depth analysis of a few selected cases of commercial dispute and litigation, this chapter illuminates the functioning of the complex and competing legal systems and the mechanisms of dispute resolution among merchants in Surat in western India and Zanzibar in East Africa during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It explores the dynamics of this legal space, the endurance of legal plurality and qualitative changes in it over the period under review. It critically examines the perceived binary between the legal plurality of the pre-colonial period and the legal uniformity and centralization of the colonial period. The chapter argues that merchants usually sought to resolve their commercial disputes through informal negotiations, petitions, arbitration and legal proceedings in courts of law. The analysis of commercial disputes show that despite the emergence of the European (English) colonial legal system across the Indian Ocean arena in the nineteenth century and the colonial state’s push to make the law uniform and implement a single legal system, the normative and customary mechanisms of adjudicating commercial disputes endured in the colonial period.

The revisionist school has asserted that pre-colonial indigenous polities were fluid shadow entities and that pre-British South Asian regimes had no law. This line of argument claims that unique conditions of India prevented the emergence of states with well-defined contiguous territories possessing centralised governments. Ironically this view is reminiscent of colonial British scholars’ argument about pre-colonial India. The argument that pre-British India had no laws and that the ruler’s will was the ultimate authority is incorrect. Rulers of pre-British indigenous polities did not operate in a vacuum, but had to take into account long-established practices, existing procedures and the presence of local powerbrokers. Arabic discourse for the Delhi Sultanate and Turko-Mongol conventions for the Mughals, along with local custom, shaped the legal history of medieval India’s militaries. Overall, the political theorists of the Delhi Sultanate, the Mughal Empire and the ‘Hindu’ dynasties accepted the pivotal role of the monarchy and the army in shaping the structure of interpolity relationships.

This chapter offers a survey of the jus gentium in South East Aasia between the fifteenth and the late eighteenth centuries. It starts by providing an overview of the region and elucidating the challenges inherent in its study. Subsequently, the examination follows three lines of enquiry: first, it explores basic values and principles governing inter-ruler and interpolity relations on the eve of European colonialism around 1450–1500 by discussing and problematising tributary relations. Second, it examines the uniqueness of these relations when juxtaposed with Europe, highlighting key facets such as hierarchy, the prioritisation of people over land, and the forging of alliances with communities of the sea and land. Finally, the chapter plots the transformative impact of European colonial policies and practices, such as the militarisation of maritime spaces, the use of sea passes and the introduction of written agreements and commercial treaties.

Chapter 8 concludes the text with a discussion of key challenges facing future human rights and humanitarian diplomatic efforts: globalization, failed states, and illiberal challenges to existing norms, laws, and values.

This introduction to The Cambridge Companion to World Trade Law introduces the book’s purpose and structure. The volume is intended to be an authoritative and accessible guide to the field, appealing to both legal specialists and those with no specialist knowledge of trade law. It is written by experts and provides a compact discussion of the perspectives, enduring issues, and emergent challenges in the field. The introduction also discusses the current context of world trade, highlighting the divisions in the world following decades of growth and the challenges posed by globalisation. It sets the stage for the chapters that follow.

This chapter explores how labour issues are addressed in international trade agreements. It examines the reasons for including labour provisions, the history of their inclusion in trade agreements, and their effects on workers. Labour provisions are often included in trade agreements in response to the disruptions caused by international trade, to address the effects of trade agreements on workers, and to strengthen weak domestic labour protections. Despite the proliferation of labour provisions in trade agreements, their effects on workers’ lives are limited. The chapter concludes that labour provisions that directly target sites of production may be more effective in improving working conditions.

Interstate diplomacy in early modern Asia involved a framework of a common set of practices shared among Islamic, South East Asian and East Asian polities. This chapter outlines this common framework and then explores the unique articulations of it to be found in the Manchu Qing imperial formation. Qing diplomatic ritual drew from the rich tradition of imperial China, the practices of the Mongol Muslim and Buddhist Chinggisid khanates, the Buddhist notion of chakravartin kingship, and the diplomatic practices of the dominant sects of Tibetan Buddhism. Ritual diplomacy not only presented claims of supremacy among a multitude of Asian rulers, but negotiated military and marriage alliances, established the rules and practices of commercial exchange, moved the unique human and animal products of one kingdom to another, and addressed competing declarations over territory and resources.

This chapter addresses the legal construction that helps to answer the question of how the UN and inter-governmental organisations (IGOs) are separate and autonomous i.e. independent of member states, when member states have created IGOs and sit and vote in their organs. It reminds the reader about the possibility of creation of separate, abstract legal entities, such as clubs, societies, corporations, and states. In international law there needs to be an assessment of whether IGOs are legal subjects of the international legal order, thereby having international legal personality, separate from the states. The chapter presents the International Court's advisory opinion in the Reparations case, which was in favour of the UN possessing international legal personality, with the concomitant right to bring claims against states.

This chapter examines the legal and political economy issues surrounding trade in services, focusing on the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). It contextualises the GATS’s origins, structure, and key obligations, including market access, national treatment, and MFN. The chapter also analyses the complexities of scheduling commitments, exceptions, and the evolving landscape of services trade. It concludes with a critical reflection on the challenges and future prospects of regulating services trade in the context of digital transformation and geopolitical tensions.

This chapter examines the relationship between geopolitical rivalry and world trade law. It begins by discussing the consequences of trade for national power and security, and how dominant states approach foreign economic policy. It then analyses recent geopolitical developments and their implications for the evolution of the international economic order. It concludes by discussing the implications of the analysis for world trade law and policy in the future.

This chapter explains the reasons for the stalemate in the WTO negotiations on domestic agriculture support, public stockholding (PSH) for food security purposes, and fisheries subsidies. The negotiations are crucial for achieving Sustainable Development Goals related to zero hunger, food security, sustainable agriculture, and marine resources. In agriculture, members are divided on disciplining trade-distorting support and addressing historical asymmetries. The PSH negotiations are contentious owing to disagreements on a permanent solution and calculation of the external reference price. Fisheries subsidy negotiations have stalled on the issue of over-capacity and overfishing subsidies, despite progress on illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing.

This chapter examines the evolving landscape of digital trade regulation, tracing its transformation from early electronic commerce initiatives to the current focus on the data-driven economy. It analyses the dynamic regulatory models emerging in free trade agreements and digital economy agreements, highlighting the influence of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership. The chapter further investigates the progress and challenges in digital trade governance within the World Trade Organization, particularly the Joint Statement Initiative on Electronic Commerce. It concludes by assessing the impact of digitalisation on global trade law, noting both legal innovations and setbacks owing to geopolitical differences and the complexities of integrating domestic data governance with international trade commitments.