The Path Towards a New Paradigm: Sustainability as the Transformative Axis in Contemporary Law

This paper analizes both the role and the transformative process of the two dominant paradigms of juridical sciences. Initially, the insufficiency of the paradigm of formal-bourgeois Law, generated in a context of crisis that led to its gradual displacement by the paradigm of the social rule of law, is addressed. Subsequently, the study focuses on the paradigm of the social rule of law, which happens to be inadequate to face contemporary environmental challenges, particularly in the context of climate change. To that end, it is reflected on the environmental crisis and its effects on juridical paradigms, highlighting the incapability of the current paradigm to offer effective solutions. Because of this lack of capacity, the notion of sustainability is introduced as a possible paradigm that has its foundation in the satisfaction of the needs of present generations without compromising the needs of future generations, as well as the issue of its specific legal role. Ultimately, this paper explores the potential of sustainability to transform juridical sciences, suggesting the existence of an inherent, sustainable law as the appropriate response to the environmental crisis demanding a shift of paradigms. This study is based on Kuhn’s theory of paradigms, which is applied to law to demonstrate how historical crises have boosted paradigm changes.