The Field of International Business Transactions Law

This Article studies the evolution of the scholarly subfield referred to as the law of “international business transactions” (IBT). It reviews data on academic articles, courses, textbooks and other signifiers of the growth of this research area. Beginning around 1960, scholars began to use the term “international business transactions” and by the 1980s, several law schools were offering a course by that title. A handful of dedicated textbooks soon followed.

These data reflect a gradual increase in research on the topic of IBT, particularly in the United States, but also considerable diversity of subject matters covered by those works. The Article seeks to highlight how IBT has evolved as a discursive category in U.S. law schools and international legal studies within the United States. It then briefly evaluates the present state of the subject and its relationship with other areas of law.