Virtual Justice and the Rule of Law
ETAT DE DROIT ET VIRTUALITE, Karim Benyekhlef, Pierre Trudel, eds., pp. 293-319, Montreal: Themis, 2009
27 Pages Posted: 2 Feb 2009 Last revised: 7 Feb 2011
Date Written: February 1, 2009
Abstract
This paper explores the challenges that information and communications technology bring to the rule of law in the context of adjudication. The historical core of the rule of law in the western tradition is first identified as the quest for a government of laws and not of men, a concept which sits most comfortably with legislation as the foremost source of law. The globalisation of the means of conflict resolution which has come with technological evolution is then used to highlight how the state is losing its grip not only on the means of dispute resolution but also on the substantive laws that govern outcomes. The significance of this for legal method is seen as the loss of the centrality of legislation, an increased reliance on the rationality of case law, and the rule of law reassessment that this requires.
Note: Downloadable document is in French.
Keywords: Rule of law, Cyberjustice, International Procedural Law, Arbitration, Legal Theory, Constitutional Law, International Arbitration, Judge-made Law, Common Law, Transnational Law
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