This chapter starts by observing that public responsibility is still understood in very different ways throughout the world, depending largely on the political, social and cultural background of each State. The Chinese, Middle Eastern, African and Central European examples presented bear witness to this reality, and in particular to the close link between the development of public responsibility and the emancipation of the individual from the State and the collectivity. The great diversity of national and supranational practices on a world-wide scale – in a context marked by global challenges and by the still essential role of the Nation-State framework – makes a comparative legal approach essential, not only to prevent unwarranted standardization, but also to bridge differences and ‘further compatibility’.

National courts today find themselves ever more confronted with issues that are borderless, and sometimes global. This Chapter looks at the past of the common law and some aspects of its origins, evolution, and characteristics. The common law, which has come to define a conception of law standing in stark contrast to that of the Continental European civilian legal orders, including none more so than France’s, has been an irony of fate in its evolution, consolidated and strengthened as it was through the efforts of a Norman French king. If we think of matters calling most urgently for transnational solutions, do the origins of the common law suggest differences of a nature that would create insuperable obstacles to a new jus commune? Methodologically, the civil and common law systems continue to clash. Yet the questions their courts face today are increasingly issues of jurisdiction, of the reach of domestic courts beyond the territories that define national sovereignty. We already have seen innovative strides by courts in numerous states in recent years to meet the needs of transnationalizing law. With increasing comprehension can come harmony and fruitful mutual consultation, if humanity decides that it wishes to proceed towards this goal.