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"Code is Law", as @lessig famously said. But for a decade now, people like myself, @balajis, @paulmromer and Tom Bell have been pointing out that Law is Code too: laws are lists of procedural instructions executed by judges and arbitrators as the CPUs.
We amend laws like we patch code; we comment on them, copy them, propose rewrites in the form of Model Codes, have APIs like the UCC (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniform_Commercial_Code …), even cross-language APIs (treaties), and we search for opinions on @LexisNexis just like usage examples on @github.
I'm not saying laws are exactly like code or that human law is superior to machine law - I'm sympathetic to @NickSzabo4's eloquent critiques of "human-interpreted wet code" (https://twitter.com/NickSzabo4/status/1001670124175163392 …). But there's enough similarity to mine coding practices for legal insights.
So I feel strongly that law should be more fully open-sourced: modularized, forkable, diffable, OSS licensed, kept in searchable repositories along with open (not gated) databases of rulings, and incorporated via reference into city, county, province, and country codes.
San Francisco voters should be able to propose a ballot initiative to adopt Houston's pro-housing growth codes v 2.3, along with specified patch us-ca-2018-11.01 to adapt the codes to match the "API" of the other city & county codes & the CA state constitution.
Colorado voters (aided by @jaredpolis) should be able to adopt Portugal's harm-reduction drug legalization; or a @BlueFrontiers seastead to use @delaware_gov's corporate law. Laws can & should be remixed, refactored, and reused for diversity and constant innovation.
As @mattwridley so brilliantly said at TED: the engine of human progress and prosperity has been ideas having sex (https://www.ted.com/talks/matt_ridley_when_ideas_have_sex …). And laws are ideas. So just imagine the prosperity that could be unleashed if laws evolved at Silicon Valley speed.
That's why I'm so excited that @StartSocieties (on whose board I serve) is creating ULEX, the first open-source legal system (and it's supporting infrastructure). As appropriate for an OSS project, we're crowdfunding it, so please consider donating:https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ulex-an-open-source-legal-system-community--2/ …
@piawaugh is working on this one in NZ...
Yes, thanks Eric. Patri we've been exploring this in NZ as to what legislation drafted as code in the first place mught be like, prescriptive legislation in any case. Some info available at https://www.digital.govt.nz/blog/labplus-better-rules-for-government-discovery-report/ … and we are playing with @openfisca from France which is great.
Huh, cool! Lmk if I can help in any way.
Let @nardwebster know if you are doing anything in this space, s we are trying to learn and share with others around the world :)
am a complete layman, but isn't "a declarative statement of intent" not a better matching description than "procedural"? asfaik laws don't prescribe a certain step-by-step approach to decision finding rather than trying to express/capture a certain intent, right?
In many cases laws or precedents do offer step by step rules. For example "three part tests" for rule application. Now, the parts/steps usually involve evaluations like intent. But those evaluation happen within very simple procedural steps (if then else).
You're forgetting there's different judicial traditions and motions of justice, and that these respond to far more complex historical human processes than code. The quintaessential Silicon Valley arrogance is the absurd pretension of universal applicability of American politics.
This. The idea of law “innovating” at SV speed is freaking scary, because tech analogies assume there’s no need for non-techies to have any input. (At least as I am reading it).
Also tech’s worship of “innovation” never seems to end well.
HammurAPI's Laws of Code are the oldest coding standard.
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