Human Law and Computer Law: Comparative Perspectives

The focus of this book is on the epistemological and hermeneutic implications of data science and artificial intelligence for democracy and the Rule of Law. How do the normative effects of automated decision systems or the interventions of robotic fellow ‘beings’ compare to the legal effect of written and unwritten law? To investigate these questions the book brings together two disciplinary perspectives rarely combined within the framework of one volume. One starts from the perspective of ‘code and law’ and the other develops from the domain of ‘law and literature’. Integrating original analyses of relevant novels or films, the authors discuss how computational technologies challenge traditional forms of legal thought and affect the regulation of human behavior. Thus, pertinent questions are raised about the theoretical assumptions underlying both scientific and legal practice. 

Acknowledgements; Mireille Hildebrandt and Jeanne Gaakeer.- Prefatory remarks on Human Law and Computer Law; Mireille Hildebrandt.- Part I − Law and Code.- 1 Prefatory remarks to part I: law and code; Mireille Hildebrandt.- 2 From Galatea 2.2 to Watson – and back?; Mireille Hildebrandt .- 3 What robots want: autonomous machines, codes and new frontiers of legal responsibility; Ugo Pagallo.- 4 Abort, retry, fail: scoping techno-regulation and other techno-effects; Bibi van den Berg and Ronald Leenes.- 5 A bump in the road. Ruling out law from technology; Katja de Vries and Niels van Dijk.- Part II − Law and Literature.- 6 Prefatory remarks to part II: law and literature; Jeanne Gaakeer.- 7 Control, Alt and/or Delete? Some observations on new technologies and the human; Jeanne Gaakeer.- 8 Law, normativity and the writing. Oracle Night and Human indeterminacy; Massimo Durante.- 9 When a robot can love - Blade Runner as a cautionary tale on law and technology; Shulamit Almog.- About the authors.- Index.