Laws and Emerging Technologies

Abstract

New technologies and so-called communication and information technologies are transforming our society, the way in which we relate to each other, and the way we understand the world. By a wider extension, they are also influencing the world of law. That is why technologies will have a huge impact on society in the coming years and will bring new challenges and legal challenges to the legal sector worldwide. On the other hand, the new communications era also brings many new legal issues such as those derived from e-commerce and payment services, intellectual property, or the problems derived from the use of new technologies by young people. This will undoubtedly affect the development, evolution, and understanding of law. This Special Issue has become this window into the new challenges of law in relation to new technologies.

1. Introduction

The emergence of new technologies of knowledge in all fields, their dissemination, and their application for social or economic benefit are essential activities for the progress of society worldwide. Its development has been essential for international economic and social convergence. However, the regulation and legal implications of these new technologies need to be addressed in the legal systems of every country. Therefore, in order to regulate the basic conditions that guarantee the equality and rights of individuals, legal systems should pay special attention to the legal challenges that new technologies can present. This includes, for example, blockchain technology in the future of contracts, big data, and the protection of personal data; the emergence of electric scooters as a new form of urban mobility; or even the fact that dependence on new technologies can affect one’s personal life, where one seeks the right to disconnect digitally, and even the right to be forgotten.

This Special Issue aims to provide new legal advances in connection with new technologies. Therefore, research articles on any of these fields, with a global or local perspective, were welcomed.

2. Publications Statistics

The summary of the call for papers for this Special Issue on the seven manuscripts submitted: rejected (two; 29%) and published (five; 71%). The published manuscripts come from various continents and countries; the results are summarized in Table 1. The continental breakdown of authors is 61% from North America (USA and Canada), and 39% from Europe (Spain, Greece and Denmark). The average number of authors per manuscript was less than three.

Table 1. Statistics of authors by country.

Continent	Country	Authors
Europe	Greece	3
Europe	Spain	1
Europe	Denmark	1
North America	USA	2
North America	Canada	6
Total		13

3. Authors’ Affiliation

The authors come from eight different affiliations. Table 2 summarises the authors and their affiliations.

Table 2. Authors and affiliations.

Author	Affiliation	Country	References
Maniadaki, Maria	School of Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Crete	Greece	(Maniadaki et al. 2021)
Papathanasopoulos, Athanasios	School of Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Crete	Greece	(Maniadaki et al. 2021)
Mitrou, Lilian	Department of Information and Communication Systems Engineering, University of the Aegean-Greece	Greece	(Maniadaki et al. 2021)
Salmerón-Manzano, Esther	Faculty of Law, Universidad Internacional de La Rioja (UNIR)	Spain	(Salmerón-Manzano 2021)
Cullen, Olivia	Faculty of Social Work, University of Calgary	Canada	(Cullen et al. 2020)
Dimitropoulos, Gina	Faculty of Social Work, University of Calgary	Canada	(Cullen et al. 2020)
Dawes, Natalie	Faculty of Social Work, University of Calgary	Canada	(Cullen et al. 2020)
Ernst, Keri Zug	The Keller Center, San Mateo Medical Center	USA	(Cullen et al. 2020)
Binford, Warren	College of Law, Willamette University	USA	(Cullen et al. 2020)
Caserta, Salvatore	Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen	Denmark	(Caserta 2020)
Jobidon, Gabriel	CIRCERB–CRMR, Université Laval	Canada	(Jobidon et al. 2021)
Lemieux, Pierre	Faculty of Law, Université Laval	Canada	(Jobidon et al. 2021)
Beauregard, Robert	Academic and Student Affairs, Université Laval	Canada	(Jobidon et al. 2021)

4. Topics

The research carried out by the authors in this Special Issue is summarized in Table 3 below. This table identifies the broad areas of law and new technologies that they address. They have been grouped into three main lines of research: Legaltech, New Technologies and Privacy Protection, and New Technologies and Recruitment. Table 4 summarizes the keywords used by all the manuscripts in the Special Issue. It can be seen that there is no repetition of keywords, with the exception of law firms and large law firms, and that in general the keywords are mostly combined.

Table 3. Topics for Laws and Emerging Technologies.

Bibliometric Studies	Number of Manuscripts	References
Legaltech and law firms	2	(Salmerón-Manzano 2021; Caserta 2020)
New Technologies and Privacy Protection	2	(Maniadaki et al. 2021; Cullen et al. 2020)
New Technologies and Recruitment	1	(Jobidon et al. 2021)

Table 4. Topics for Laws and Emerging Technologies.

Keywords	Reference
remote sensing; personal data; privacy; drones; UAV; satellites; environmental monitoring; environmental law	(Maniadaki et al. 2021)
legaltech; lawtech; justice; legal profession; legal design; law firms; legal education	(Salmerón-Manzano 2021)
child sexual abuse material; child pornography; law enforcement; multidisciplinary work	(Cullen et al. 2020)
digitalization; large law firms; sociology of law	(Caserta 2020)
building information modeling; integrated project delivery; public procurement; collaboration; infrastructure contracts	(Jobidon et al. 2021)