WHO MAKES THE LAW? PARLIAMENTS, GOVERNMENTS, COURTS OR OTHERS? - SOCIAL JUSTICE THROUGH COOPERATIVES AT STAKE -

Abstract

Based on the participation of the author in numerous cooperative legislation projects in different parts of the world, the article seeks an answer to the question whether our general notion of law is compatible with cooperative law. This notion has evolved from general, democratically set rules, abstracting from individual cases and filtering individual identities through manifold citizen-relationships, to casuistic decisions on individual claims, without regard to the relational character of law. The article argues that this notion of law is incompatible with a law that is to institutionalize the idea/identity of cooperatives. Law institutionalizes this identity inasmuch as it translates the universally recognized cooperative values and principles into legal rules. These rules must reflect the legal principle of solidarity. This, in turn, is a condition of the capacity of cooperative enterprises to contribute to social justice, hence to sustainable development.