Legal Transplants through Private Contracting: Codes of Vendor Conduct in Global Supply Chains as an Example

The legal transplant literature typically focuses on legal transplants through governmental channels (e.g., legislative or judiciary processes). This article however directs attention to a generally ignored phenomenon: legal transplants through private contracting in the globalization age. Private actors have transplanted a variety of private and public laws across jurisdictions through contracting for over a decade. This article argues that codes of vendor conduct in global supply chains are a vivid example for this type of legal transplantation. Given that vendor codes in global supply chains can be interpreted as legal transplants through private contracting, this article further examines the transplant effects in China, one of the many receiving countries. Finally, this article proffers a theoretical analysis of the comparative advantages and disadvantages of legal transplants through private contracting