Soft international law is in every corner, in particular those upon multinational corporations (MNCs). How to harden soft international law on MNCs is a continuing issue yet with unsatisfed solutions. Previously, scholars have proposed to create legally binding treaty or deploy soft international law in international arbitral decisions. However, those approaches cannot suffciently harden soft international law. Different from those insuffcient approaches, this Article synthesizes an emerging tort law approach to hardening soft international law by analyzing cases from the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Netherlands. It argues that it is plausible for courts—across the globe—to refer to soft international law to impose obligations and liabilities on MNCs. This Article makes three contributions. First, it dissects the rise of the tort law approach to MNC obligations and liabilities. Second, building on the tort law approach, it synthesizes two typologies of referring to soft international law, respectively, in common law principles and civil law statutes. Third, with the explanation of the rise of the tort law approach, this Article assesses the challenges and prospects of referring to soft international law under the tort
law approach.
Hardening Soft International Law of Corporate Responsibility in Domestic Courts: A Tort Law Approach
13 Feb 2026