Comparative Law in the 22nd Century
| DOI | 10.1177/1023263X1602300209 |
| Date | 01 April 2016 |
| Author | Mathias M. Siems |
| Published date | 01 April 2016 |
| Subject Matter | Legal Debate |
23 MJ 2 (2016) 359
COMPARATIVE LAW IN THE 22nd CENTURY
M M. S*
‘Roads? Where we’re going, we don’t need roads.’
Back to the Future Part II(19 89)
§1. RESEARCHING THE FUTURE AND THE LAW
Speculating about the remainder of the 21st century seems like a rat her di cult
endeavour – and speculating about t he 22nd century could be seen as pure science ction.
Indeed, there are a number of science ction books and movies set in the 22nd century.
Some of those have a legal dimension, such as the Judge Dredd comic books set in a
future totalitarian North America,14 while other visions of the 22nd century a re more
concerned with spaceships, ex traterrestrials, and cy borgs.
However, the future is also a topic of academic research, and one which could
provide a useful resource in t he development and study of law. Many social scientists
carry out research on topics that have a predictive dimension.
15
Moreover, the
growing eld of ‘futures studies’ a ims to rationally explore what i s likely to happen in
subsequ ent centuries .
16
Some articles in this eld, for example in the journals the e
Futurist and Futures, also have a lega l dimension.
17
In addition, some books by legal
scholars have ex plored future trajec tories of legal rules, practic e and education,
18
and
* Durha m Universi ty, United K ingdom.
14 For academic articles see, e.g., A.V. Kozin, ‘Judge Dredd: Drea ming of Instant Justice’, in A. Wagner
and R.K. Sher win (eds.), Law, Culture and Visual Studi es (Springer, 2014), p.917–941; C. Lloyd, ‘Judge,
jury and exec utioner: Judge Dredd, Jacqu es Derrida, dr ones’, in T. Giddens (ed.), Graphic Justice:
Intersection s of Comics and Law (Routledge , 2015), p.201–218.
15 See, e.g., the interdis ciplinar y (and EU-funded) ‘AUGUR project – Europe and the World in 2030’,
www.augurproject.eu.
16 e ma in association s are the World Future Societ y (www.wfs.org/), the World Future s Studies
Organisati on (www.wfsf.org/), and the As sociation of Professional Fut urists (www.profutu rists.org/).
17 E.g., J. Pelton, ‘Toward a Global Rule of L aw: A Practical Step toward World Peace’, 41 e Futurist
(2007), p.23–28; S.T. Walther, ‘ e globaliz ation of the rule of law an d human rights’, 31 Futures (1999),
p.993–1003; P. McNally and S. lnayatullah, ‘ e Rights of Robot s: Technology, culture and law in the
21st century’, 20 Future s (1988), p.119–136.
18 E.g., R. Sussk ind, Tomorro w’s Law yers: A n Introd uctio n to Your Fu ture (Oxford Univer sity Press, 2013);
R. Susskind, e Future of Law: Facing the Cha llenges of Information Technology (Oxford Un iversity
Press, 1998); S. Muller et al.(eds.), e Law of the Future and the Future of Law, vol. I and I I (Torkel
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