What does the Rule of law contribute in the frame of global governance? While addressing metamorphoses of law and the multiple legalities in the global context, this paper shows that the rule of law can consistently be extended externally being cherished internally. It takes seriously the concurrence of different legalities in their diverse ‘formats’, and the challenge of the “global administrative law” theoretical and empirical model. At the meta-level of the relations among legalities, the Rule of law has an essential role to play: it affects interactions and interdependence,

and can cause content-dependent assessments to develop, without supporting self-closure or monistic dogmas. This originates from the normative implications of the rule of law

ideal (between couples like accountability and responsibility, the right and good, justice and power) but appears to open a forward looking research agenda on global governance.

Table of contents

Introductory note. Part 1. Legalities. I. Geology and geometry, layers and fragments. II. The law as a whole. III. Responsibility. Part 2. The Rule of law in global context. I. Recognition, interactions, the “internal” and the “external”. II. Enhancing the Rule of law. III. Legal realities, Global tolerance? IV. The onus of communication and the substance of the Rule of law. V. The inherent tension between justice and the good.

Appendix: A reconnaissance. 1.The “esprit” matrix. 2. Jus Gentium or the law common to all peoples. 3.The further reality of G.A.L. 4. Medievalism and what to learn from a “false friend”.