Law faces challenge of technology

Press, 4 April 1987, Page 1

Law faces challenge of technology

By

CHRIS MOORE

Old laws might become counter-productive in an age of naw technology, warned the president of the Court of Appeal'of the New South Wales Supreme Court, Mr Justice Kirby in Christchurch yesterday. An expanding technology would eventually affect every aspect of community life from health to the law, his Honour said in an address on law reform in an age of science at the University of Canterbury. “In the field of. law reform, doing nothing is to make a choice. To intervene prematurely could mean cutting off scientific and technological advances; to do nothing will allow developments to continue. His Honour was the first chairman of the Australian Law Reform Commission from 1974 to 1984, and remains the youngest man appointed to Federal judicial office in Australian legal history. He was appointed a judge of the Australian Federal Court in 1983,

and took up his present appointment as Judge of the Supreme Court, Judge of Appeal and president of the New South Wales Court of Appeal in 1984. He is actively involved in continuing examinations of human rights and new technology, and is visiting New Zealand at the invitation of the Futures Trust. "A feature of our times is the remarkable expansion of science and technology especially in three

technological areas ... nuclear physics, the development of the microchip and biological developments” he said. . Since ■ Hiroshima, there had been a tendency to place the problems and questions of-nuclear -proliferation into a basket marked “too difficult.” . “The law meanwhile has gone on solving problems • • off vjiandlprds'-.j; .and!;tenants: tad trespass;;/ But surely there is no greater issue than the survival of humankind and no greater question of what the world is doing about the control of nuclear weaponry through international law. “Watched by a fascinated world, New Zealand is taking brave steps. This

small country at least has done something. It is perhaps time for a unilateral . - act, qf courage on ’ this question — but it won’t happen if we wait for everyone else to act,” his Honour said. The growth of information technology held important implications for individuals and societies. Data bn individuals .was hb longer kept iti; manilh folders but was available'; internationally through new technology. “This presents a new challenge to society where international technology can often break down the domestic-control of a sovereign State. It raises questions of jurisdiction in matters of criminal law. .

“When I was attending law school, theft was defined- as taking away - goods which’ -were lawfully the property :of ,an<? other person;-With new technology, does theft also mean the taking of information?'’ ■ Biologjcal developments continued to raise significant questions for society and the , law — foetus tissue, transplants, chlldren as organ donors, and in-vitro fertilisation. - “The critical question for social scientists like myself Is how can the law-making process cope with problems and questions of this kind? Lawyers know that there will always be a solution under common law. Judges know that solu-

tions can be found in the bospm of.. common law. “But to apply oid .iaws may^be' ; eouht®dduW tive and prove to be a nuisance,” he said. “If politicians find it hard to talk about issues which could lose votes and if the bureaucrats are not Interested or haven’t the time, who will sort out these questions? That is the opportunity and challenge for law reform which has the ability to stimulate the politics;! process and make the community face up to these problems.” Mr Justice Kirby said that by the twenty-first century, every' New

Zealander, and Australian would havei to be «ieptfiL< understanding the impact of science and technology and its profound effect on all our lives.” Even the law would become part ,of the technological resolution — his Honour predicted < that machines with artificial intelligences — “thinking machines” — could become involved in situations requiring "highly evaluative” judgments. “Some tasks could be taken from the. courts and transferred to Cheaper, more approachable systems,” he said.