emphasising digital technologies, are we about to face the gruesome triviality of
case management software, reading too much into these aspirations that should
be regarded simply as instruction manuals? Or are we talking about a fundamental change? At the core of all these questions two constants remain: what is
law and how does technological innovation influence it?
Some questions can be, and have already been, answered. However, much
remains to be seen, and there is still a lack of comprehensive analysis of the
intersections between dispute resolution and digital technologies. The role of
scientific examination is first and foremost to formulate necessary questions rather
than simply providing answers to pre-set questions that reflect the threat and
promise of technology. Against this nuanced background, this book evaluates
how digital technology disrupts and changes one fundamental aspect of law,
namely the enforcement of decisions rendered in dispute resolution. The objective here is to formulate a theoretical framework for evaluating the implications
that digital technologies have for the legal system and then to apply this to
dispute resolution.
The study consists of two main parts. In the first part I focus on the privatisation
of dispute resolution through digital technologies. I demonstrate how the use of
ICT creates new possibilities for privatisation of enforcement and how this development, in turn, affects the underlying methods of justifying dispute resolution in
the first place. Through an analysis influenced by social systems theory I describe
how the interactions of law, technology and society contribute to societal change
of digitalisation and how the legitimacy of dispute resolution is created, renewed,
reinterpreted and harnessed within the legal system. This analysis describes how
digital technologies are giving rise to unforeseen privatisation, leading to a justificatory crisis examined in the second part of the study through three justificatory
narratives of sovereignty, consent, and access to justice.
Understanding the delicate interplay between law, technology and society is
the critical first step towards assessing the impact of technology on dispute
resolution. This interplay is embedded in legal structures formulated over time
and through these it defines the environment for future technological innovation.
Thus, one cannot understand the future of dispute resolution technology without
simultaneously looking into the past.
1.2 Interfaces of dispute resolution and digital technologies
In this section I briefly describe different areas where dispute resolution and
technology overlap. Technological innovation for dispute resolution is often
discussed either from the perspective of the courts or from the perspective of
private dispute resolution providers. In the public sphere courtroom technology
has been developed to improve existing practices, whereas in the private sphere of
e-commerce use of digital technologies has enabled automated, scalable processes
often called online dispute resolution (ODR). This two-pronged development and
its implications for enforcement, which is the overarching theme of this book,
brings the relationship between public and private dispute resolution to the fore. In
Introduction 5
case management software, reading too much into these aspirations that should
be regarded simply as instruction manuals? Or are we talking about a fundamental change? At the core of all these questions two constants remain: what is
law and how does technological innovation influence it?
Some questions can be, and have already been, answered. However, much
remains to be seen, and there is still a lack of comprehensive analysis of the
intersections between dispute resolution and digital technologies. The role of
scientific examination is first and foremost to formulate necessary questions rather
than simply providing answers to pre-set questions that reflect the threat and
promise of technology. Against this nuanced background, this book evaluates
how digital technology disrupts and changes one fundamental aspect of law,
namely the enforcement of decisions rendered in dispute resolution. The objective here is to formulate a theoretical framework for evaluating the implications
that digital technologies have for the legal system and then to apply this to
dispute resolution.
The study consists of two main parts. In the first part I focus on the privatisation
of dispute resolution through digital technologies. I demonstrate how the use of
ICT creates new possibilities for privatisation of enforcement and how this development, in turn, affects the underlying methods of justifying dispute resolution in
the first place. Through an analysis influenced by social systems theory I describe
how the interactions of law, technology and society contribute to societal change
of digitalisation and how the legitimacy of dispute resolution is created, renewed,
reinterpreted and harnessed within the legal system. This analysis describes how
digital technologies are giving rise to unforeseen privatisation, leading to a justificatory crisis examined in the second part of the study through three justificatory
narratives of sovereignty, consent, and access to justice.
Understanding the delicate interplay between law, technology and society is
the critical first step towards assessing the impact of technology on dispute
resolution. This interplay is embedded in legal structures formulated over time
and through these it defines the environment for future technological innovation.
Thus, one cannot understand the future of dispute resolution technology without
simultaneously looking into the past.
1.2 Interfaces of dispute resolution and digital technologies
In this section I briefly describe different areas where dispute resolution and
technology overlap. Technological innovation for dispute resolution is often
discussed either from the perspective of the courts or from the perspective of
private dispute resolution providers. In the public sphere courtroom technology
has been developed to improve existing practices, whereas in the private sphere of
e-commerce use of digital technologies has enabled automated, scalable processes
often called online dispute resolution (ODR). This two-pronged development and
its implications for enforcement, which is the overarching theme of this book,
brings the relationship between public and private dispute resolution to the fore. In
Introduction 5