Author: Reyyan Mansoor, Middlesex University, Dubai
To The Point
Traditional law has expanded from working on cases by hand to thousands of digital files available at just a click of a button. A large difference from the way that traditional law was set and the way things are now is that now cases have grown to dealing with more complex concepts regarding more in-depth issues including cyber-security, global trade, International humanitarian issues and more.
Legal Jargon
There are a number of fields emerging in law with focus falling on environmental law, business law, medical law and technology-based law.
Environmental law places its main focus on keeping the world around us clean and protecting the environment. This takes the form of ensuring corporations and individuals do their part to adhere to the different rules and regulations set by their country.
Environmental law ensures compliance from different corporations to fulfill their social responsibility while also making sure they adhere to the policies set out for sustainability. This would also include the production of certain materials like energy. With how the world has been running through its resources, this field focuses on conserving non-renewable energy and using renewable energy sustainably and efficiently.
Business law applies to different companies and enterprises in both the local and international sphere, handling issues from compliance from enterprises, shareholder rights, and foreign investments to labor law. This field holds importance when it comes to claims in the private or public sector.
Medical Law is a broad field but deals with the protection and scope of liability to medical professionals, hospitals and the patients themselves. It contains the different rights and responsibilities held by both parties, regulations to patient care and a focus on medical ethics. When a patient finds that a medical professional or medical institution makes a critical impact on patient health leading to worse symptoms, they are able to make a medical malpractice claim against the institution.
Technology based law is one of the more emerging sectors, though it has existed for years, the surfacing of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has placed a new level of importance on the sector. This sub-domain on AI looks at the ethical use of AI, copyright and the scope of liability to an AI model. Additionally, this sector of law also places a focus on Cybersecurity giving perspective to the hold it has on the legal field and protecting the public. Protecting the public also falls on the sub-domain of data privacy and the liability breachers or attackers hold should they breach user data.
Proof
Several laws and conventions have come into play with the evolution of these domains including:
● The Paris Agreement for climate change is a treaty created and signed by the members of the United Nation with the aim of limiting global warming and maintaining it to under 2°C.
● The Montreal Protocol was designed as a means to reduce the overall production and use of ozone depleting substances (get examples) globally.
● The United Nation Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods or CISG is a global treaty governing international sales as well as providing both sellers and customers with rules and regulations safeguarding international sales.
● Another example of business law takes the form of ensuring compliance from enterprises who engage in international trade through the means of import and export duties, trade licenses, etc.
● The International Health Regulations (IHR) treaty created by the World Health Organization (WHO) holds the aim to prevent and respond to the spread of disease internationally.
● The General Data Protection Regulation or GDPR is a legal frame developed by the EU or European Union and is applicable to all the individuals in the EU. It dictates how organizations, even international ones, can collect your personal data and what they can and cannot do with it.
● The European Union developed the first legal framework applicable to Artificial Intelligence (AI) called the EU AI Act where AI models are heavily regulated and categorized on the basis of risk. Aspects looked at also include how they process information in terms of certain sectors including health and a person’s fundamental rights, risks of safety, their intended use and its availability to the public.
Abstract
The 21st century has seen the emergence of various new fields and domains of law, changing the trajectory of traditional law. Technology based law, Environmental law, medical law and more, have all been growing for years and with the coming up of the internet and now, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has put the legal sphere into a whole new system. The establishment of these domains have been driven by the development of the world in technology, trade, increased humanitarian efforts, etc, shaping the legal landscape for years to come.
Case Law
1. Urgenda Foundation v State of the Netherlands (2019)
○ In 2015, The Claimants, the Urgenda Foundation sued the defendants, State of Netherlands arguing that the increased greenhouse gas emissions posed a risk to the general public citing Article 2 – the Right to Life and Article 8 – Right to Respect for Private and Family Life.
○ The court ruled in favor of the claimants calling for the State to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 20-25% by 2020. The case was appealed and ultimately settled in the Supreme Court in 2019 where the court dismissed the State’s appeal ordering the emission reduced.
○ The principle followed was that the government had a legal obligation to protect its citizens in all aspects including climate change.
2. Macquarie Infrastructure Corp v Moab Partners, L.P. (2024)
○ Moab Partners sued Macquarie Infrastructure Corporation for failing to disclose any information about the new International Maritime Organization (IMO 2020) and its limit on the sulfur content of shipping fuels. Macquarie had a subsidiary heavily focused on No.6 fuel oil.
○ They claimed that it violated Item 303 of Regulation S-K which was first dismissed by the District Court as it could not support the claim for fraud. This was reversed in the U.S. Court of Appeal at the second circuit .The case then went to the U.S. Supreme Court where it was ruled that a pure omission of a fact was not actionable under U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Regulations.
3. Montgomery v Lanarkshire Health Board [2015]
○ The patient Montgomery was a woman who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes and was of small stature categorizing her pregnancy as high-risk.
○ The doctor, Dr. McLellan advised vaginal delivery but did not mention to her the risks of delivery nor was it mentioned that there was an alternative with a cesarean or C-section. The baby’s oxygen was cut off during delivery owing to shoulder dystocia where the baby’s shoulders got stuck in the pelvis leading to the infant developing cerebral palsy.
○ Montgomery sued Lanarkshire Health Board for negligence citing that had the doctor given her all of the information, she would have chosen the safer alternative for both herself and her child.
○ The final case judgement was given by the U.K. Supreme Court, who ruled in favor of Montgomery citing that healthcare professionals should provide the patient with all the information, benefits and risks of any treatment and let the patient make an informed decision.
4. Google SPAIN SL v Agencia Española de Protección de Datos (2014)
○ Claimant Mario Costeja Gonzalez sued the defendants, Google Spain after information available on the search engine allegedly damaged his reputation. He requested to have the information removed as it was related to debts he had already resolved but a search for his name still showed those results from a real estate company. The defendants claimed that the search engine was not responsible for information available provided legally by a third party.
○ The court ruled in favor of the claimants, Gonzalez, citing that the search engine acts as a store of personal information because of the way they process information.
○ This case established the principle of the Right to be Forgotten where individuals can request for information about themselves to be removed from the search engine when they hold no purpose.
Conclusion
With the world moving so rapidly, the domains of various sectors have been growing and that includes the legal landscape. This includes the emergence of domains in cyberlaw, AI, medical law, environmental law and more and each are emerging with laws and conventions to further emphasize its importance. Many cases stemming from these are landmark cases and have become precedents in their respective domains. What’s more is how complex these concepts are becoming from organizational compliance to a sustainable future to artificial intelligence and its claims for copyright. All are incredibly important and various judgements were discussed with the relevant principles included as well many laws and conventions that have emerged with the growth of these domains in the legal landscape, which will only continue to grow in the future.
