Business School Research Seminar

Thursday 15 May 2014
2 pm
Executive Business Centre (EB206), Holdenhurst Road, Bournemouth BH8 8EB

Since its inception as a standalone topic of study in the 1990s the study of Cyberlaw has been a study in regulatory theory. We have discussed systems of regulation and tools of regulatory enforcement; we have divided groups into techno-determinists and libertarians/communitarians and we have discussed effectiveness and legitimacy. The missing element of much Cyberlaw study has been the law element. We have focussed too extensively on the Cyber and too little on the law. This paper attempts to rebalance and refocus the study of Cyberlaw onto the key element, the jurisprudential structure of Cyberlaw and in particular to examine the question of the rule of law (or its absence) in Cyberspace. In so doing it seeks to form the foundations of a Cyberlaw jurisprudence by asking some difficult normative questions: Can a rule of law exist online? If so who is the legitimate lawmaker and what values are enshrined by Cyberlaw?