The Electronic Media and the Transformation of Law

This is the first book to explore the broad influence of computers and television on the evolution of the US legal process.

“"This book is a broad-based analysis of the literature of both law andmedia and includes an extensive bibliography....[it] offers an importantresearch agenda for many areas of future research."--Legal Studies Forum”

"A seminal book."--ABA Journal"Katsh maintains that new forms of electronic communication, in their ability to foster more and faster links among people, will be supportive both of less abstraction in legal relations and of greater group consciousness in the formulation of our legal ideals....Mr. Katsh suggests that as our legal categories and traditions become archaic, law will change into an enterprise more responsive to real needs, in which communication is inevitably more nuanced, morefrequent, less literal (even less literate) and more like a conversation....This is an absorbing book, evocative and optimistic."--The New York Times Book Review"A coherently argued, thoroughly researched, and brightly written book."--Judicature"Brilliant jurisprudential speculation in virgin philosophical territory."--Philadelphia Inquirer"A compelling and truly groundbreaking work....Everyone with an interest in how the law functions should read this important book."--International Journal of Legal Information"A seminal book."--ABA Journal"Katsh maintains that new forms of electronic communication, in their ability to foster more and faster links among people, will be supportive both of less abstraction in legal relations and of greater group consciousness in the formulation of our legal ideals....Mr. Katsh suggests that as our legal categories and traditions become archaic, law will change into an enterprise more responsive to real needs, in which communication is inevitably more nuanced, morefrequent, less literal (even less literate) and more like a conversation....This is an absorbing book, evocative and optimistic."--The New York Times Book Review"A coherently argued, thoroughly researched, and brightly written book."--Judicature"Brilliant jurisprudential speculation in virgin philosophical territory."--Philadelphia Inquirer"A compelling and truly groundbreaking work....Everyone with an interest in how the law functions should read this important book."--International Journal of Legal Information"[An] engaging book....provocative and entertaining."--American Journalism"This book is a broad-based analysis of the literature of both law and media and includes an extensive bibliography....[it] offers an important research agenda for many areas of future research."--Legal Studies Forum"A path-breaking attempt to provide a comprehensive analysis of the relationship between law and information....A courageous and in many ways a profound book."--Northern Illinois Law Review"Speculative, imaginative, and sometimes romantic and poetic."--Morris Cohen, Yale University Law School"In this lucid, well-documented commentary, he persuasively argues that the telecommunications media are effecting fundamental changes in legal doctrine concerning individual expression and, more specifically, the creation, storage, processing, and dissemination of information....A first-class book, essential for law and journalism collections."--Library Journal"Full and readable....It must be considered a useful text for the legal scholar."--Times Higher Education Supplement"An unusually appealing combination of lively writing and learned thought that will attract considerable attention across several fields. This is a first rate book."--Aviam Soife, Boston University"Provocative and important. Read his book and you will never again look at your computer screen with the same sense of innocence."--California Lawyer"A significant contribution to the field but, more importantly, to culture generally. His approach is a sound one. In dealing with law, Katsh does not fragment the legal system into discrete doctrines but rather addresses the structural or underlying elements which the new technology is transforming."--Saul Touster, Brandeis University"This is an interesting, wide-ranging and stimulating essay on the possible effects of changes to the law and legal consciousness induced by change in the media of communication....There is much of value in this book. Every reader can expect to learn something new, and to find something to disagree with."--International and Comparative Law Quarterly

M. Ethan Katsh is a Professor of Law and Acting Chair of the Department of Legal Studies at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Highly publicized legal cases, such as those involving libel verdicts, obscenity prosecutions, the First Amendment, and other areas of media law have focused attention on only one part of the media's impact on law. This study, the first to explore the broad influence of computers and television on the future of the legal process, explains the critical role of information and argues that the influence of the new modes of communication can be seen in changes occurring in many areas of the law. These areas include the goals and purposes of law, the doctrines and rules of law, the processes law uses to settle disputes and shape behavior, the legal profession, and the values and concepts that underlie our system of law.

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