Transnational shipping by definition spans multiple jurisdictions. This gives rise to an important question with respect to shipping law. Given the absence of a dominant legislative authority, will a standardized corpus of transnational shipping law emerge or is it destined to become a fragmented, polycentric jumble of conflicting legal practices and norms? Without the guiding hand of a central legislative authority, what mechanism, if any, can be relied upon to ensure the emergence of a standardized body of rules? Building upon the concept of network externalities, this chapter posits a theory as to how legal standardization may occur in a decentralized spontaneous fashion, and discusses how formal law may reinforce or hinder this process. To that end, the new lex maritima is taken as a case study.