The Death of Law, Another Obituary

Lucy, William

Abstract

This essay argues that a defining characteristic of modern law – the distinctive way in which it judges its addressees – will disappear. After sketching the distinctive nature of modern law's judgment, I show that it is part of a broader regulatory paradigm (rule or East Coast regulation) which is itself being superseded. Technological management is the alternative regulatory paradigm and I examine its rise and salience, showing how it might, in combination with the advent of ubiquitous computing, machine learning and artificial intelligence, cure a range of alleged pathologies that mark contemporary legal systems. The essay also demonstrates why technological management is now our regulatory default, its salience flowing from changes in the nature of our thinking about, and deployment of, power. The essay combines the work of Roger Brownsword, a leading contemporary jurist of technological management, with that of the world-renowned social theorist Michel Foucault.

Citation

Lucy, W. (2022). The Death of Law, Another Obituary. Cambridge Law Journal, 81(1), 109-138. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0008197321001021

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Sep 14, 2021
• Online Publication Date: Feb 18, 2022
• Publication Date: 2022-03
• Deposit Date: Sep 29, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 29, 2021
• Journal: Cambridge Law Review
• Print ISSN: 0008-1973
• Electronic ISSN: 1469-2139
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 81
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 109-138
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/s0008197321001021
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1238860