Journal article
The death of law? computationally personalized norms and the rule of law
- Abstract:
- The emergent power of big data analytics makes it possible to replace impersonal general legal rules with personalized, particular norms. We consider arguments that such a move would be generally beneficial, replacing crude, general laws with more efficiently targeted ways of meeting public policy goals and satisfying personal preferences. Those proposals pose a radical, new challenge to the rule of law. Data-driven legal personalization offers some benefits that are worth pursuing, but we argue that the benefits can only legitimately be pursued where doing so is consistent with the agency that the law ought to accord to individuals and with the agency that the law ought to accord to public bodies. The principle of public agency is a prerequisite for the rule of law. The principle of private agency depends on the rule of law. Each is incompatible with the unrestrained computational personalization of law.
- Publication status:
- Published
- Peer review status:
- Peer reviewed
Actions
Access Document
- Files:
-
-
(Preview, Accepted manuscript, pdf, 424.5KB, Terms of use)
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- Publisher copy:
- 10.3138/utlj-2021-0011
Authors
- Publisher:
- University of Toronto Press
- Journal:
- University of Toronto Law Journal More from this journal
- Volume:
- 72
- Issue:
- 4
- Pages:
- 373-402
- Publication date:
- 2021-11-18
- Acceptance date:
- 2021-09-24
- DOI:
- EISSN:
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1710-1174
- ISSN:
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0042-0220
- Language:
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English
- Keywords:
- Pubs id:
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1231911
- Local pid:
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pubs:1231911
- Deposit date:
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2022-01-12
Terms of use
- Copyright date:
- 2021
- Notes:
- This is the accepted manuscript version of the article. The final version is available online from University of Toronto Press at: https://doi.org/10.3138/utlj-2021-0011
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