Law cannot be made redundant by lines of code, the complexity of law
subsumed into simple rules. Still, new technologies are already having an enormous impact on law, as examples of algorithmic decision-making and distributed
ledger technologies demonstrate. The legal framework is not toothless against the
disruptive challenge of technology. On the contrary, society both reacts and
predicts change through the legal system, through the boundaries law imposes
on future development. With law’s function of providing societal stability comes
the responsibility to ensure responsible legal digitalisation, the fairness of technological infrastructures. The nuanced perspective of law needs to be taken into
consideration in technological system design, otherwise the impact of technology
is unpredictable. In dispute resolution technology, there is little room for failure,
as the question is about legal protection and access to justice, the ethical
dimension of law. It is of utmost importance that we recognise how technology
affects legal functions and how technological infrastructure can become legally
relevant. The challenge of technology leaves us with the fundamental principles
of law. In the end, the big question is not about understanding technology but
about understanding the complex interrelationships between law, technology and
society.
Conclusions 197