Law as Innovative Technology
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.
