Roger Brownsword - Böcker

Explains how British law of contract works in today's ever-changing commercial climate, and examines the implications of new technology on contractual interpretation and obligation. In this guide to the current state of the nation's laws of contract, the authors provide an account of the changes wrought in British law in recent years.

The concept of human dignity is increasingly invoked in bioethical debate and, indeed, in international instruments concerned with biotechnology and biomedicine. While some commentators consider appeals to human dignity to be little more than rhetoric and not worthy of serious consideration, the authors of this groundbreaking new study give such appeals distinct and defensible meaning through an application of the moral theory of Alan Gewirth.In Part One, the book seeks to bring human dignity more clearly into focus. It sketches two opposed conceptions, 'human dignity as empowerment', which treats human rights as based on the intrinsic dignity of humans, identified with individual autonomy, and 'human dignity as constraint', which acts as an umbrella for a number of duty-driven approaches. While viewing human dignity primarily as empowerment, the authors argue that it is not autonomy as such, but vulnerable agency around which dignity as the basis of human rights is to be analyzed. Alongside this, they develop the idea of dignity as a virtue, specifically as a practical attitude to be cultivated in the face of human finitude and vulnerability. At its sharpest, dignity as a virtue indicates the aspirational path of responsible and rational agency in the context of the existential anxiety that is part and parcel of the human condition. During this analysis they pay particular attention to the similarities and differences between Kantian and Gewirthian theory.In Part Two, the authors apply their analysis of dignity as generating rights and responsibilities to a range of activities (such as pre-natal selection, commodification of the human body, cloning, and euthanasia) running from birth with dignity through to death with dignity, and subject the use of 'human dignity' in existing regulatory frameworks to critical scrutiny.

Rights, Regulation, and the Technological Revolution confronts a central question facing modern government - how can regulators respond to both the challenges and opportunities presented by a technologically driven society without sacrificing legitimacy for effectiveness, or weakening the essential conditions of a stable, aspirant moral community?Analysing developments across biotechnology, information and communications technology, nanotechnology and neurotechnology, the book explores the difficulties facing the public control of rapid technological change, focusing on the problems of regulatory effectiveness, connection, legitimacy, and compliance. The book argues that as regulators struggle to find adequate frameworks to limit, license and support new technologies, they will increasingly rely on a technological approach to complement, enhance, and even replace traditional legal strategies.The book breaks new ground by offering the first overarching commentary on the relationship between regulators, industry, and wider society as the new technologies of the twenty-first century achieve an ever-greater penetration in our daily lives.

In this unique volume, Roger Brownsword provides a thoughtful overview of the principal themes of the law of contract. He explores the context of the recent development of contract law, and considers the many changes the law has undergone given the ever-evolving nature of English law. This accessible text brings Brownsword's expert commentary to a wider readership, and has been fully updated and revised to include recent issues and cases, including the Europeanization of contract law and the Great Peace Shipping case.

The variety, pace, and power of technological innovations that have emerged in the 21st Century have been breathtaking. These technological developments, which include advances in networked information and communications, biotechnology, neurotechnology, nanotechnology, robotics, and environmental engineering technology, have raised a number of vital and complex questions. Although these technologies have the potential to generate positive transformation and help address 'grand societal challenges', the novelty associated with technological innovation has also been accompanied by anxieties about their risks and destabilizing effects. Is there a potential harm to human health or the environment? What are the ethical implications? Do this innovations erode of antagonize values such as human dignity, privacy, democracy, or other norms underpinning existing bodies of law and regulation? These technological developments have therefore spawned a nascent but growing body of 'law and technology' scholarship, broadly concerned with exploring the legal, social and ethical dimensions of technological innovation.This handbook collates the many and varied strands of this scholarship, focusing broadly across a range of new and emerging technology and a vast array of social and policy sectors, through which leading scholars in the field interrogate the interfaces between law, emerging technology, and regulation. Structured in five parts, the handbook (I) establishes the collection of essays within existing scholarship concerned with law and technology as well as regulatory governance; (II) explores the relationship between technology development by focusing on core concepts and values which technological developments implicate; (III) studies the challenges for law in responding to the emergence of new technologies, examining how legal norms, doctrine and institutions have been shaped, challenged and destabilized by technology, and even how technologies have been shaped by legal regimes; (IV) provides a critical exploration of the implications of technological innovation, examining the ways in which technological innovation has generated challenges for regulators in the governance of technological development, and the implications of employing new technologies as an instrument of regulatory governance; (V) explores various interfaces between law, regulatory governance, and new technologies across a range of key social domains.

The variety, pace, and power of technological innovations that have emerged in the 21st Century have been breathtaking. These technological developments, which include advances in networked information and communications, biotechnology, neurotechnology, nanotechnology, robotics, and environmental engineering technology, have raised a number of vital and complex questions. Although these technologies have the potential to generate positive transformation and help address 'grand societal challenges', the novelty associated with technological innovation has also been accompanied by anxieties about their risks and destabilizing effects. Is there a potential harm to human health or the environment? What are the ethical implications? Do this innovations erode of antagonize values such as human dignity, privacy, democracy, or other norms underpinning existing bodies of law and regulation? These technological developments have therefore spawned a nascent but growing body of 'law and technology' scholarship, broadly concerned with exploring the legal, social and ethical dimensions of technological innovation.This handbook collates the many and varied strands of this scholarship, focusing broadly across a range of new and emerging technology and a vast array of social and policy sectors, through which leading scholars in the field interrogate the interfaces between law, emerging technology, and regulation. Structured in five parts, the handbook (I) establishes the collection of essays within existing scholarship concerned with law and technology as well as regulatory governance; (II) explores the relationship between technology development by focusing on core concepts and values which technological developments implicate; (III) studies the challenges for law in responding to the emergence of new technologies, examining how legal norms, doctrine and institutions have been shaped, challenged and destabilized by technology, and even how technologies have been shaped by legal regimes; (IV) provides a critical exploration of the implications of technological innovation, examining the ways in which technological innovation has generated challenges for regulators in the governance of technological development, and the implications of employing new technologies as an instrument of regulatory governance; (V) explores various interfaces between law, regulatory governance, and new technologies across a range of key social domains.

Putting technology front and centre in our thinking about law, this book introduces Law 3.0: the future of the legal landscape.Technology not only disrupts the traditional idea of what it is ‘to think like a lawyer,’ as per Law 1.0; it presents major challenges to regulators who are reasoning in a Law 2.0 mode. As this book demonstrates, the latest developments in technology offer regulators the possibility of employing a technical fix rather than just relying on rules – thus, we are introducing Law 3.0. Law 3.0 represents, so to speak, the state we are in and the conversation that we now need to have, and this book identifies some of the key points for discussion in that conversation. Thinking like a lawyer might continue to be associated with Law 1.0, but from 2020 onward, Law 3.0 is the conversation that we all need to join. And, as this book argues, law and the evolution of legal reasoning cannot be adequately understood unless we grasp the significance of technology in shaping both legal doctrine and our regulatory thinking.This is a book for those studying, or about to study, law – as well as others with interests in the legal, political, and social impact of technology.

Putting technology front and centre in our thinking about law, this book introduces Law 3.0: the future of the legal landscape.Technology not only disrupts the traditional idea of what it is ‘to think like a lawyer,’ as per Law 1.0; it presents major challenges to regulators who are reasoning in a Law 2.0 mode. As this book demonstrates, the latest developments in technology offer regulators the possibility of employing a technical fix rather than just relying on rules – thus, we are introducing Law 3.0. Law 3.0 represents, so to speak, the state we are in and the conversation that we now need to have, and this book identifies some of the key points for discussion in that conversation. Thinking like a lawyer might continue to be associated with Law 1.0, but from 2020 onward, Law 3.0 is the conversation that we all need to join. And, as this book argues, law and the evolution of legal reasoning cannot be adequately understood unless we grasp the significance of technology in shaping both legal doctrine and our regulatory thinking.This is a book for those studying, or about to study, law – as well as others with interests in the legal, political, and social impact of technology.

Law and the Technologies of the Twenty-First Century provides a contextual account of the way in which law functions in a broader regulatory environment across different jurisdictions. It identifies and clearly structures the four key challenges that technology poses to regulatory efforts, distinguishing between technology as a regulatory target and tool, and guiding the reader through an emerging field that is subject to rapid change. By extensive use of examples and extracts from the texts and materials that form and shape the scholarly and public debates over technology regulation, it presents complex material in a stimulating and engaging manner. Co-authored by a leading scholar in the field with a scholar new to the area, it combines comprehensive knowledge of the field with a fresh approach. This is essential reading for students of law and technology, risk regulation, policy studies, and science and technology studies.

This introduction to human dignity explores the history of the notion from antiquity to the nineteenth century, and the way in which dignity is conceptualised in non-Western contexts. Building on this, it addresses a range of systematic conceptualisations, considers the theoretical and legal conditions for human dignity as a useful notion and analyses a number of philosophical and conceptual approaches to dignity. Finally, the book introduces current debates, paying particular attention to the legal implementation, human rights, justice and conflicts, medicine and bioethics, and provides an explicit systematic framework for discussing human dignity. Adopting a wide range of perspectives and taking into account numerous cultures and contexts, this handbook is a valuable resource for students, scholars and professionals working in philosophy, law, history and theology.

This book considers the implications of the regulatory burden being borne increasingly by technological management rather than by rules of law. If crime is controlled, if human health and safety are secured, if the environment is protected, not by rules but by measures of technological management—designed into products, processes, places and so on—what should we make of this transformation? In an era of smart regulatory technologies, how should we understand the ‘regulatory environment’, and the ‘complexion’ of its regulatory signals? How does technological management sit with the Rule of Law and with the traditional ideals of legality, legal coherence, and respect for liberty, human rights and human dignity? What is the future for the rules of criminal law, torts and contract law—are they likely to be rendered redundant? How are human informational interests to be specified and protected? Can traditional rules of law survive not only the emergent use of technological management but also a risk management mentality that pervades the collective engagement with new technologies? Even if technological management is effective, is it acceptable? Are we ready for rule by technology? Undertaking a radical examination of the disruptive effects of technology on the law and the legal mind-set, Roger Brownsword calls for a triple act of re-imagination: first, re-imagining legal rules as one element of a larger regulatory environment of which technological management is also a part; secondly, re-imagining the Rule of Law as a constraint on the arbitrary exercise of power (whether exercised through rules or through technological measures); and, thirdly, re-imagining the future of traditional rules of criminal law, tort law, and contract law.

This book considers the implications of the regulatory burden being borne increasingly by technological management rather than by rules of law. If crime is controlled, if human health and safety are secured, if the environment is protected, not by rules but by measures of technological management—designed into products, processes, places and so on—what should we make of this transformation? In an era of smart regulatory technologies, how should we understand the ‘regulatory environment’, and the ‘complexion’ of its regulatory signals? How does technological management sit with the Rule of Law and with the traditional ideals of legality, legal coherence, and respect for liberty, human rights and human dignity? What is the future for the rules of criminal law, torts and contract law—are they likely to be rendered redundant? How are human informational interests to be specified and protected? Can traditional rules of law survive not only the emergent use of technological management but also a risk management mentality that pervades the collective engagement with new technologies? Even if technological management is effective, is it acceptable? Are we ready for rule by technology? Undertaking a radical examination of the disruptive effects of technology on the law and the legal mind-set, Roger Brownsword calls for a triple act of re-imagination: first, re-imagining legal rules as one element of a larger regulatory environment of which technological management is also a part; secondly, re-imagining the Rule of Law as a constraint on the arbitrary exercise of power (whether exercised through rules or through technological measures); and, thirdly, re-imagining the future of traditional rules of criminal law, tort law, and contract law.

In recent years, the use of AI has skyrocketed. The introduction of widely available generative AI, such as ChatGPT, has reinvigorated concerns for harm caused to users. Yet so far government bodies and scholarly literature have failed to determine a governance structure to minimize the risks associated with AI and big data. Despite the recent consensus among tech companies and governments that AI needs to be regulated, there has been no agreement regarding what a framework of functional AI governance should look like. This volume assesses the role of law in governing AI applications in society. While exploring the intersection of law and technology, it argues that getting the mix of AI governance structures correct-both inside and outside of the law-while balancing the importance of innovation with risks to human dignity and democratic values, is one of the most important legal-social determination of our times.

This edited collection seeks to map the landscape of contemporary informational interests, to evaluate a range of recognised and putative rights and wrongs associated with modern information societies, and to consider how law, regulation, and governance should be deployed in response.New technologies and new applications constantly disrupt our values, our framing of our world, and our sense of where we are and who we are. In our ‘information societies’, we entertain mixed hopes and expectations, as well as significant fears and concerns. At the root of these, there are a number of informational interests, on the basis of which certain rights are claimed and particular wrongs denounced. This book addresses these interests, considering them as relating primarily to the integrity of the informational ecosystem, to the accessibility, accuracy, and authenticity of public information, and to our individual ability to control the outward and inward flows of information that relates directly to ourselves. Covering a wide range of subjects, the book’s interrogation of our contemporary information society is oriented around two questions: first, whether the information society in which we live is the kind of society that we think it should be and, second, if not, what we can reasonably expect law, regulation, and governance to do in providing the basis for improving it.This book will be of considerable interest to those working at the intersection of law and technology, as well as others concerned with the legal, political, and social aspects of our information society.

This edited collection seeks to map the landscape of contemporary informational interests, to evaluate a range of recognised and putative rights and wrongs associated with modern information societies, and to consider how law, regulation, and governance should be deployed in response.New technologies and new applications constantly disrupt our values, our framing of our world, and our sense of where we are and who we are. In our ‘information societies’, we entertain mixed hopes and expectations, as well as significant fears and concerns. At the root of these, there are a number of informational interests, on the basis of which certain rights are claimed and particular wrongs denounced. This book addresses these interests, considering them as relating primarily to the integrity of the informational ecosystem, to the accessibility, accuracy, and authenticity of public information, and to our individual ability to control the outward and inward flows of information that relates directly to ourselves. Covering a wide range of subjects, the book’s interrogation of our contemporary information society is oriented around two questions: first, whether the information society in which we live is the kind of society that we think it should be and, second, if not, what we can reasonably expect law, regulation, and governance to do in providing the basis for improving it.This book will be of considerable interest to those working at the intersection of law and technology, as well as others concerned with the legal, political, and social aspects of our information society.

In the context of the technological disruption of law and, in particular, the prospect of governance by machines, this book reconsiders the demand that we should respect the law, simply because it is the law. What does ‘the law’ need to look like to justify our respect? Responding to this question, the book takes the form of a dialectic between, on the one side, the promise of the prospectus for law and, on the other, the discontent provoked by the performance of law in practice; this is followed by a synthesis. Four pictures of law are considered: two are traditional pictures – law as order and law as just order; and two are prompted by the technological disruption of law – law as governance by machines and law as self-governance by humans. These pictures are tested in five performance areas: contract law, criminal law, biolaw, information law, and constitutional law. The synthesis, revealing the complexity of the demand for respect, highlights three particular points. First, the only prospectus for law that clearly commands respect is one that is committed to protecting the global commons (the preconditions for humans to form their own communities with their own forms of governance); second, any form of governance by humans will invite reservations and push-back against the demand for respect; and, third, governance by machines is not so much a superior form of governance as a radically different form in which questions about respect are redundant. This book will appeal to scholars and students with interests in the broad and burgeoning field of law, regulation and technology, as well as to legal theorists, practitioners, and others interested in the impact of new technology on law.

In the context of the technological disruption of law and, in particular, the prospect of governance by machines, this book reconsiders the demand that we should respect the law, simply because it is the law. What does ‘the law’ need to look like to justify our respect? Responding to this question, the book takes the form of a dialectic between, on the one side, the promise of the prospectus for law and, on the other, the discontent provoked by the performance of law in practice; this is followed by a synthesis. Four pictures of law are considered: two are traditional pictures – law as order and law as just order; and two are prompted by the technological disruption of law – law as governance by machines and law as self-governance by humans. These pictures are tested in five performance areas: contract law, criminal law, biolaw, information law, and constitutional law. The synthesis, revealing the complexity of the demand for respect, highlights three particular points. First, the only prospectus for law that clearly commands respect is one that is committed to protecting the global commons (the preconditions for humans to form their own communities with their own forms of governance); second, any form of governance by humans will invite reservations and push-back against the demand for respect; and, third, governance by machines is not so much a superior form of governance as a radically different form in which questions about respect are redundant. This book will appeal to scholars and students with interests in the broad and burgeoning field of law, regulation and technology, as well as to legal theorists, practitioners, and others interested in the impact of new technology on law.

This book analyses discontent with law and assesses the prospect of better governance by technology.In the first part of the book, where the context is ‘low tech’, the range of discontent with law is examined; the underlying reasons for such discontent are identified (namely, the human nature of the legal enterprise, its reliance on rules, and the pluralistic nature of human communities); and the reasonableness of such discontent is assessed. In the second part of the book, where the context is ‘high-tech’ (with new tools becoming available to undertake governance functions), the question is whether discontent with law is further provoked or, to the contrary, is eased. While new technologies provoke further discontent with law’s claimed authority, its ineffectiveness, and its principles, positions, and policies, they also promise more effective and efficient ways of achieving order. The book closes with some reflections on the ambivalence that humans might experience when faced with the choice between law’s governance and apparently better performing governance by technology. That law’s governance is imperfect is undeniable; that humans should quest after better governance is right; but, the shape of our technological futures is unclear.This accessibly written book will appeal to scholars and students who are working in the broad and burgeoning field of law, regulation, and technology, as well as to legal theorists, political scientists, and sociologists with interests in the impact of new technology.

This book analyses discontent with law and assesses the prospect of better governance by technology.In the first part of the book, where the context is ‘low tech’, the range of discontent with law is examined; the underlying reasons for such discontent are identified (namely, the human nature of the legal enterprise, its reliance on rules, and the pluralistic nature of human communities); and the reasonableness of such discontent is assessed. In the second part of the book, where the context is ‘high-tech’ (with new tools becoming available to undertake governance functions), the question is whether discontent with law is further provoked or, to the contrary, is eased. While new technologies provoke further discontent with law’s claimed authority, its ineffectiveness, and its principles, positions, and policies, they also promise more effective and efficient ways of achieving order. The book closes with some reflections on the ambivalence that humans might experience when faced with the choice between law’s governance and apparently better performing governance by technology. That law’s governance is imperfect is undeniable; that humans should quest after better governance is right; but, the shape of our technological futures is unclear.This accessibly written book will appeal to scholars and students who are working in the broad and burgeoning field of law, regulation, and technology, as well as to legal theorists, political scientists, and sociologists with interests in the impact of new technology.

This book offers a radically different introduction to law, one that reflects the challenges and opportunities presented by the rapid technological developments of our time.Traditionally, law has been about historic principles and rules and their application to a particular set of facts; and courts, judges, and disputes have been central to the legal enterprise. Against this approach, this book highlights four radical and revisionist ideas: by bringing modern technologies into the foreground; by presenting law as one particular mode of governance in a larger picture of governance that now includes technological modalities; by insisting that we have to think outside the traditional doctrinal box to engage with a broad range of governance questions; and by emphasising that human communities cannot flourish without good governance to which both lawyers and law are central. These four radical threads are woven into a discussion of the modern landscape of law, and together they offer a distinctly contemporary contribution to the quest for good governance. The challenge for lawyers now, the book maintains, is to contribute to thinking, both locally and globally, about how we take advantage of the opportunities presented by the newest technology, without compromising the essential conditions for human life and co-existence, and without losing what we value in law’s governance.This book is aimed at students who are studying law at university and legal academics, and others, interested in the current and future impact of technology on law.

This book offers a radically different introduction to law, one that reflects the challenges and opportunities presented by the rapid technological developments of our time.Traditionally, law has been about historic principles and rules and their application to a particular set of facts; and courts, judges, and disputes have been central to the legal enterprise. Against this approach, this book highlights four radical and revisionist ideas: by bringing modern technologies into the foreground; by presenting law as one particular mode of governance in a larger picture of governance that now includes technological modalities; by insisting that we have to think outside the traditional doctrinal box to engage with a broad range of governance questions; and by emphasising that human communities cannot flourish without good governance to which both lawyers and law are central. These four radical threads are woven into a discussion of the modern landscape of law, and together they offer a distinctly contemporary contribution to the quest for good governance. The challenge for lawyers now, the book maintains, is to contribute to thinking, both locally and globally, about how we take advantage of the opportunities presented by the newest technology, without compromising the essential conditions for human life and co-existence, and without losing what we value in law’s governance.This book is aimed at students who are studying law at university and legal academics, and others, interested in the current and future impact of technology on law.

This edited collection explores the disruptive effects of technology on law: in particular, the challenge presented to regulators as they strive to manage the transition from one technological state to another (such as the transition from analogue to digital or from fossil fuels to green renewables) and the opportunities (and challenges) presented as regulators transition from traditional rule-based legal governance to governance that relies on new technologies and tools. It brings together nine papers, eight of which were published in the journal Law, Innovation and Technology (between 2009 and 2022) and the ninth of which was a TELOS conference paper that was given at King’s College London in 2023.These papers are presented in three sets, each set reflecting a particular theme for discussion within the broad field of law, regulation, and technology. The organising ideas are: law in context; ‘law in context’ becoming ‘law in a technological context’; disruptive technologies and their impact on law; the regulatory challenge presented by technological transition; and the challenges and opportunities presented by a transition in the mode of governance, from rules to tools.Timely and forward-looking, this collection makes important inroads into broadening the field of legal study by placing law not simply in context but in, what is now, a technological context.

This book argues that law, regulation, and technology can be understood as particular kinds of governance projects, and their credentials assessed according to an overarching concept of good governance. The book introduces the ideas of ‘governance by law’ and ‘governance by regulation’ as particular types of projects within a constellation of governance projects–some normative, some non-normative, and some hybrid. As such, legal and regulatory projects can be differentiated from each other as well as from other normative governance projects, such as ethics. They can also be contrasted with various kinds of non-normative technological projects, and more importantly, they can be compared with governance projects that are hybrids, such as rule-and-tool projects. Based on this account of governance, the limitations and imperfections of legal and regulatory governance–relative to an overarching concept of good governance–become readily apparent. Focusing on governance projects, governance problems, and governance prospects, the book thereby offers an insightful and original analysis of the current–and future–intersection of law, technology and governance. This book will be of interest to legal researchers and postgraduates in the burgeoning field of law, regulation, and technology, as well as others with more general interests in issues of law and governance.

This book argues that law, regulation, and technology can be understood as particular kinds of governance projects, and their credentials assessed according to an overarching concept of good governance. The book introduces the ideas of ‘governance by law’ and ‘governance by regulation’ as particular types of projects within a constellation of governance projects–some normative, some non-normative, and some hybrid. As such, legal and regulatory projects can be differentiated from each other as well as from other normative governance projects, such as ethics. They can also be contrasted with various kinds of non-normative technological projects, and more importantly, they can be compared with governance projects that are hybrids, such as rule-and-tool projects. Based on this account of governance, the limitations and imperfections of legal and regulatory governance–relative to an overarching concept of good governance–become readily apparent. Focusing on governance projects, governance problems, and governance prospects, the book thereby offers an insightful and original analysis of the current–and future–intersection of law, technology and governance. This book will be of interest to legal researchers and postgraduates in the burgeoning field of law, regulation, and technology, as well as others with more general interests in issues of law and governance.

Law and the Technologies of the Twenty-First Century provides a contextual account of the way in which law functions in a broader regulatory environment across different jurisdictions. It identifies and clearly structures the four key challenges that technology poses to regulatory efforts, distinguishing between technology as a regulatory target and tool, and guiding the reader through an emerging field that is subject to rapid change. By extensive use of examples and extracts from the texts and materials that form and shape the scholarly and public debates over technology regulation, it presents complex material in a stimulating and engaging manner. Co-authored by a leading scholar in the field with a scholar new to the area, it combines comprehensive knowledge of the field with a fresh approach. This is essential reading for students of law and technology, risk regulation, policy studies, and science and technology studies.

Contract law is increasingly used to serve regulatory purposes considered beyond the reach of private law. This Handbook explores a range of modern practices that are not typically treated in standard expositions of this area. By exploring these phenomena, it reveals the changing role of regulatory private law in a globalised legal world - one where distinctions between public and private law, hard law and soft law, and rule making and contracting have become increasingly blurred. Contributors explore key examples drawing on an extensive range of private law. The book pays close attention to the use of codes of conduct to coordinate and steer behaviour in business-to-business and business-to-consumer relationships, concerning health and safety, environment, and employment conditions. It also examines the formation of contractual `networks', such as franchises, to regulate multi-party trade relationships, and the application of contracts and contract law to secure business and consumer compliance with public standards. With its global reach and detailed research, this Handbook will appeal to academics exploring the potential of new law making methods and practitioners looking to gain insight into emerging approaches to private law.Contributors include: A. Beckers, R. Brownsword, R.R. Condon, D. Leczykiewicz, M. Mataija, M.-C. Menting, H.-W. Micklitz, C. Mitchell, M. Namyslowska, E.T.T. Tai, R. van Gestel, P. Verbruggen

This timely Research Handbook examines the key challenges for the governance of biomedicine and the life sciences. It explores the impact of significant political, technological and ecological developments on international governance and considers ethics in times of global crisis.Leading experts discuss the ways in which digitalization and AI have disrupted communication and knowledge infrastructure, while highlighting the threats posed by climate change and biodiversity loss to ecological stability. They investigate how the system of governance by law has been challenged by the erosion of public spaces and democratic political systems, while regulatory tools such as ethics committees, participatory structures and self-regulation are unprepared for emerging issues. The Research Handbook demonstrates the importance of developing novel methodological tools to interpret these problems within the field of bioethics. It further proposes a roadmap for future research and practice, outlining how the life sciences can provide new possibilities for human health and well-being.Scholars and students of law and society, legal philosophy and legal theory will greatly benefit from this illuminating Research Handbook. It is also a useful resource for those studying bioethics, moral philosophy and the social sciences.

This insightful book presents a radical rethinking of the relationship between law, regulation, and technology. While in traditional legal thinking technology is neither of particular interest nor concern, this book treats modern technologies as doubly significant, both as major targets for regulation and as potential tools to be used for legal and regulatory purposes. It explores whether our institutions for engaging with new technologies are fit for purpose.Having depicted a legal landscape that includes legal rules and principles, regulatory frameworks, technical measures and technological governance, this thought-provoking book presents further exercises in rethinking. These exercises confront communities with a fundamental question about how they are to be governed—by humans using rules or by technical measures and technological management? Chapters rethink the traditional arguments relating to legality, the rule of law, legitimacy, regulatory practice, dispute resolution, crime and control, and authority and respect for law. Examining the role of lawyers and law schools in an age of governance by smart technologies, Rethinking Law, Regulation, and Technology will be a key resource for students and scholars of law and technology, digital innovation and regulation and the law.

As developments in human genetics proceed apace,the regulation of genetic research and its applications is set to represent one of the major legal challenges of the next century. At every turn - in the fields of medicine and commerce, in insurance and employment, in the family and even in the criminal justice system - advances in human genetics threaten to transform our understanding of ourselves and the basis upon which we relate to one another. This special issue of the Modern Law Review addresses a range of key issues - conceptual, ethical, political and practical - arising from the regulatory challenge confronting the law in the face of the genetic revolution.