Karnow, Curtis E.A. --- "Foreword" [2018] ELECD 1400; in Barfield, Woodrow; Pagallo, Ugo (eds), "Research Handbook on the Law of Artificial Intelligence" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2018) xviii

Book Title: Research Handbook on the Law of Artificial Intelligence

Editor(s): Barfield, Woodrow; Pagallo, Ugo

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN: 9781786439048

Section Title: Foreword

Author(s): Karnow, Curtis E.A.

Number of pages: 6

Extract:

Foreword
Curtis E.A. Karnow
As I write this, I am in the Galápagos Islands. We are anchored off Isabela, the largest of the islands, and most of the ship's small company are off looking at the lava flows, finches, tortoises, iguanas, and the rest of the evidence Darwin used, on his return to England, to assemble the theory of evolution. From his perspective, over time species expand, mutate, and shrivel. When the conditions are right, new species emerge, and old ones may go extinct. The law works like this too. The doctrine of ancient lights is by and large gone the way of the dodo bird and the great auk. Administrative law has erupted since the second World War,1 as have developments in law affecting condominiums and the basic rules of pretrial discovery (rules which now occupy the lions' share of litigators' time). Feudal property law--such as tenure by knight service and serjeanty--disappeared a very long time ago. Areas such as torts are quite old, mutating here and there but, like the domestic cat of three thousand years ago, some parts survive with very little variation. The scope of federal Constitutional rights has expanded and contracted; one of them--the personal right to bear arms--was announced just nine years ago,2 and the extension of some First Amendment rights to corporations is only three years old.3 Due process has had its ups4 and downs.5 The law changes as its constraints change. ...