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19 Int'l J. L. Context 1 (2023)

handle is hein.journals/injwcext19 and id is 1 raw text is: International Journal of Law in Context (2023), 19, 1-12 doi:10.1017/S174455232200043X SPECIAL ISSUE INTRODUCTION Law-jobs in the algorithmic society Pedro Rubim Borges Fortes and David Restrepo Amariles2* 1Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Brazil and 2HEC Paris, France *Corresponding author. E-mail: restrepo-amariles@hec.fr Abstract It is nom well established that algorithms are transforming our economy, institutions, social relations and ultimately our society. This paper explores the question what is the role of law in the algorithmic society? We drawe on the lase-jobs theory of Karl Llewcellyn and on William's Twining refinement of Llewselln's work through the perspective of a thin functionalism to have a better understanding of what law does in this new context. We highlight the emergence of an algorithmic law, as law performs jobs such as the disposition of trouble-cases, the preventive channelling and reorientation of conduct and expectations, and the allocation of authority in the face of algorithmic systems. We conclude that the law-jobs theory remains relevant to understanding the role of law in the algorithmic society, but it is also challenged by how algorithms redefine weho does or should do what las-iobs, and how they are done. Keywords: algorithmic law; legal realism; law-jobs; legal pluralism; digital society; law in context 1 Introduction: algorithmic law-jobs in context What is the role of law in our contemporary algorithmic societies? The spread of algorithms to an increasing number of areas in our economic, social and political life has led observers to inquire about the characteristics and implications of an algorithmic society (Restrepo Amariles, 2021; Balkin, 2017). Moreover, algorithmic decision systems are also making human decisions more depend- ent on algorithms by providing predictive inferences based on the analysis of large amounts of data or by automating in whole or in part the execution of decisions such as the grating of loans or the allo- cation of social benefits (RanchordAs and Scarcella, 2021; Restrepo Amariles, 2021). We consider it relevant to adopt the concept of law-jobs developed by the legal realist Karl Llewellyn to explore the role of law in this new context. The law-jobs theory received an important statement in the study of the legal experience of the Cheyenne people (Llewellyn and Hoebel, 1941). As a foundational concept for his general sociology of law, the law-jobs are applicable to complex or simple, large or small human groups, and Karl Llewellyn continued to develop them for the rest of his life (Twining, 2012). In his original formulation, the law-jobs are part of fundamental bare bones that arrange and adjust behaviour that maintain, co-ordinate and keep a functioning society (Llewellyn and Hoebel, 1941). Based on a functional perspective, Karl Llewellyn argues that the law-jobs hold as basic functions for every human group to prevent them from breaking out and to retain their 'groupness', from the disposition of trouble-cases to the job of the juristic method (Llewellyn and Hoebel, 1941). How may the 'law-jobs' theory be applied for our understanding of the role of law in our contemporary societies in which algorithms and algorithmic decision systems are becoming omnipresent? Can an algorithmic law perform the function of maintaining our 'groupness' in the digital sphere? How may we consider the tasks, the performance and the development of law-jobs of algorithmic law? This paper attempts to shed some light on these questions. William Twining explains that an important exercise for testing the 'law-jobs' theory includes the understanding of how the terms 'human group' and 'dispute settlement' are used in this context, for checking whether a human group may continue to exist without the job of dispute settlement being © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press