Digital Globalization and Law

Abstract

The regulation of social processes is part of a state’s sovereignty. States apply their law to shape and control social and economic conditions within their territory. Law as an instrument for coordinating human behaviour and for balancing colliding interests within the society is linked to human behaviour, either individually or within human organisations. The basic prerequisite for the existence of law is human interaction based on emotions, desires, and the pursuit of interests. Law and trust (interpersonal trust or system trust) are connected to each other. This leads to the assumption that law loses its relevance with a decrease of the relevance of trust. This article explores the question of which factors of current and future digitalisation could lead to a loss of the relevance of trust and of the relevance of the aspect of human behaviour as a connecting factor for legal norms. The article concludes that technological globalisation and ubiquity of the internet have already led to a loss of state territorial sovereignty. This has resulted in the diminution of system trust in law. The article further shows how digitalisation is pushing back the relevance of human behaviour and emotionality and, therefore, technicity is increasingly displacing law. The article describes the connection between deterritorialization and the development of new disruptive digital technologies and asks about the future role of ethics in the legal system of an advanced digitalised society. The development of concrete solutions and legislative proposals is subject to further studies.

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