Law as Innovative Technology

Law as Innovative Technology

Daniel Šmihula

doc. JUDr. MUDr. Daniel Šmihula PhD. Dr. Iur., Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic

Law can be considered also as a specific “social technology” – as an instrument oriented to reaching particular (mostly material) goals. The first of them is to enable society to reach a larger size and a higher complexity. The second is to obtain a higher level of efficiency in the functioning of the same society – as a comparison between inputs (energy, effort, raw materials) and outputs (material and immaterial assets and goods). Such an opinion is in contradiction with a conception of law as the materialization of ideals of justice into the real world. However, considering a parallel de­velopment of morality and law and the similar demands on cost-effectiveness, the conflict between them may not be as big as it could seem at first sight.