This paper investigates hierarchy in the nineteenth century global legal system through a case study of the making of the crucial idea of the 'standard of civilisation'. Most work on this has focused on either imperial or extraterritorial contexts. The paper argues that actually the concept was to a large extent developed by Anglo-American lawyers dealing with disputes over foreign investment in poorer members of international society, particularly in Latin America and Southern Europe. This highlights the need for a new historical method studying a plurality of legal practices –rather than just legal doctrine– a framework for which is presented in the paper.
