Law As Computation in the Era of Artificial Legal Intelligence. Speaking Law to the Power of Statistics

16 Pages Posted: 9 Jun 2017

See all articles by Mireille Hildebrandt

Mireille Hildebrandt

Vrije Universiteit Brussel; Radboud University

Date Written: June 7, 2017

Abstract

The idea of artificial legal intelligence stems from a previous wave of artificial intelligence, then called jurimetrics. It was based on an algorithmic understanding of law, celebrating logic as the sole ingredient for proper legal argumentation. However, as Holmes noted, the life of the law is experience rather than merely logic. Machine learning, which determines the current wave of artificial intelligence, is built on a data-driven machine experience. The resulting artificial legal intelligence may be far more successful in terms predicting the content of positive law. In this article, I discuss the assumptions of law and the rule of law and confront them with those of computational systems. As a twin paper to my Chorley lecture on Law as Information, this should inform the extent to which artificial legal intelligence provides for responsible innovation in legal decision making.

Keywords: artificial legal intelligence, legal services, political economy, machine learning, Rule of Law, speaking law to power, legal theory, speech act theory, information theory, cybernetics, legal protection by design

Suggested Citation

Hildebrandt, Mireille, Law As Computation in the Era of Artificial Legal Intelligence. Speaking Law to the Power of Statistics (June 7, 2017). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2983045 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2983045

Mireille Hildebrandt (Contact Author)

Vrije Universiteit Brussel ( email )

Pleinlaan 2
Brussels, B-1050
Belgium

HOME PAGE: http://www.vub.ac.be/LSTS/members/hildebrandt/

Radboud University ( email )

P.O. Box 9010
Nijmegen, 6500GL
Netherlands

HOME PAGE: http://https://www.cs.ru.nl/staff/Mireille.Hildebrandt

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