Preview

Lex Russica

Advanced search

Unification and Harmonization of Private Law in the Process of Broadcasting Legal-Cultural Information

https://doi.org/10.17803/1729-5920.2025.223.6.044-056

Abstract

The consistent development of unification and harmonization processes within the regulatory framework of cross-border private-law relations driven by transactional needs and intertwined with technological, sanction-related, migration, epidemiological, and other factors of contemporary legal (and more broadly, civilizational) transformations, as well as the shift in the globalization paradigm of international relations toward a model of global regionalism, necessitates a profound understanding of emerging meanings of the uniform or aspiring-to-uniform legal regulation thus created. The paper examines the factors, patterns, historical specificities, current trends, and prospects for the convergence of legal systems through the instruments of private law unification and harmonization from the perspective of memetics — a developing interdisciplinary field employed across various branches of scientific knowledge to explain various aspects of human cultural evolution. The analysis reveals that unification and harmonization of private law serve as key mechanisms for the cross-border selection of memes, facilitating the rapprochement of legal systems and achieving regulatory uniformity in private-law relations involving a foreign element at interstate and non-state, universal and regional levels. The author draws conclusions regarding the evolution of the forms, nature, and actors involved in the unification and harmonization of private law alongside the development of social relations.

About the Authors

M. V. Zaloilo
Institute of Legislation and Comparative Law under the Government of the Russian Federation
Russian Federation

Maxim V. Zaloilo, Cand. Sci. (Law), Leading Researcher, Department of Legal Theory and Interdisciplinary Law Research

Moscow



N. V. Vlasova
Institute of Legislation and Comparative Law under the Government of the Russian Federation
Russian Federation

Natalia V. Vlasova, Cand. Sci. (Law), Leading Researcher, Private Law Center

Moscow



References

1. Alimova YaO. Possibility of Unification in the Sphere of Cross-Border Contractual Relations in BRICS Countries. Lex Russica. 2019;11:9-17. (In Russ.).

2. Barkow JH (ed.). Missing the revolution. Darwinism for social scientists. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2006.

3. Blackmore S. The meme machine. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 1999.

4. Bonell MJ. The law governing international commercial contracts and the actual role of the UNIDROIT Principles. Uniform Law Review. 2018;23(1):15-41.

5. Dawkins R. The Selfish Gene. Moscow: AST Publ.; 2013. (In Russ.).

6. Deakin S. Evolution for our time: a theory of legal memetics. Current Legal Problems. 2002;55(1):1-42.

7. Dennet DC. Consciousness explained. New York: Back Bay Books, Little, Brown and Company; 1991.

8. Dmitrieva GK, Mazhorina MV (eds.). Unification and Harmonization in Private International Law. Theoretical and Practical Issues. Moscow: Norma: Infra‑M Publ.; 2024. (In Russ.).

9. Doronina NG. Diffusion in Law as a Direction of Unification of Private International Law: On the Object of Information Law. Journal of Russian Law. 2015;5:125-134. (In Russ.).

10. Doronina NG. Problems of Unification of Private International Law. IZiSP, 2nd ed. Moscow: Justitsija Publ.; 2023. (In Russ.).

11. Fried MS. The evolution of legal concepts: the memetic perspective. Jurimetrics. 1999;39(3):291-316.

12. Golubeva AR, Semilet TA. Meme as a Cultural Phenomenon. Culture and Text. 2017;3:193-205. (In Russ.).

13. Goodenough OR. Cultural replication theory and law: proximate mechanisms make a difference. Vermont Law Review. 2006;30(4):989-1004.

14. Greene J. The meming of substantive due process. Constitutional Commentary. 2016;31(2):253-294.

15. Henke C. Memetik und Recht. Humboldt Forum Recht. 2007;2:13-26.

16. Jian Li, Ning Ye, Wagner A. A memetic exploration of court interpretation. International Journal of Legal Discourse. 2019;4(2):181-196.

17. Khustenko AA. Specifics of Semiotic Organization of Internet Memes in the Professional Legal Community on Social Networks. Scientific Dialogue. 2022;11(4):258-282. (In Russ.).

18. Krupko SI. Development of Private International Law in the Field of Intellectual Property: Experience of International Harmonization. International Justice. 2023;4(48):127-149. (In Russ.).

19. Lazarev VV. The State in the Light of Memetics. Journal of Russian Law. 2020;3;5-18. (In Russ.).

20. Lynch A. Thought contagion. How belief spreads through society. New York: Basic Books; 1996.

21. Mazhorina MV, Shakhnazarov BA (eds.). Law under Sanctions. Moscow: Prospekt Publ.; 2023. (In Russ.).

22. Mazhorina MV. Private International Law as an Art. Courier of Kutafin Moscow State Law University (MSAL). 2023;9:41-51. (In Russ.).

23. Mazhorina MV. Private International Law in the Context of Globalization: From De-statization to Fragmentation. Law. HSE Journal. 2018;1:193-217. (In Russ.).

24. Nelken D and Feest J (eds.). Adapting legal cultures. Oxford — Portland Oregon: Hart Publishing; 2001.

25. Reitz JC. Introduction to the Symposium on export of the rule of law, transnational law & contemporary problems. A Journal of the University of Iowa College of Law. 2013;13(2):499-518.

26. Schlaile MP (ed.). Memetics and evolutionary economics: to boldly go where no meme has gone before. Cham: Springer International Publishing; 2021.

27. Smits JM. The complexity of transnational law: coherence and fragmentation of private law. European review of private law. 2010;20:153-167.

28. Sorokina EA. Legal Borrowings: A Discussion on Metaphors. Courier of Kutafin Moscow State Law University (MSAL). 2018;5:28-34. (In Russ.).

29. Terentyeva LV. Extraterritoriality in Private International Law. Aktual’nye problem rossijskogo prava [Current Problems of Russian Law]. 2021;16(5):183-194. (In Russ.).

30. Teubner G, Fischer-Lescano A. Regime-collisions: the vain search for legal unity in the fragmentation of global Law. Michigan Journal of International Law. 2004;25(4):999-1046.

31. Troshchenkova EV. Comprehending the Socio-Political Role of Memes in Media Discourse. Issues of Cognitive Linguistics. 2021;3:21-31. (In Russ.).

32. Usacheva KA. On Contemporary Trends in Harmonization and Unification of Contract Law. Civil Law Review. 2021;2:134-148. (In Russ.).

33. Walton F. P. The historical school of jurisprudence and transplantations of law. Journal of Comparative Legislation & International Law. 1927;9(4):183-192.

34. Watson A. Legal transplants: an approach to comparative law. Edinburgh: T & T Clark; 1974.

35. Zaloilo MV. The Concept of Meme (Memetics) and Primary Mechanisms of Sociocultural Evolution of Law. Law. HSE Journal. 2024;17(3):32-56. (In Russ.).


Review

For citations:


Zaloilo M.V., Vlasova N.V. Unification and Harmonization of Private Law in the Process of Broadcasting Legal-Cultural Information. Lex Russica. 2025;78(6):44-56. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.17803/1729-5920.2025.223.6.044-056

Views: 30


Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.


ISSN 1729-5920 (Print)
ISSN 2686-7869 (Online)