The Electronic Media and the Transformation of Law [Paperback]

M. Ethan Katsh (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0195070003 | ISBN-13: 978-0195070002 | Publication Date: July 11, 1991

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.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

"The high-technology invasion of the legal process is in full swing," observes Katsh, a law professor at the University of Massachusetts. 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. Just as the advent of printing, for instance, rendered state control over printed matter much less effective than in pre-Gutenberg times, so the electronic revolution is prompting challenges to the law in such areas as privacy, copyright, and obscenity. A first-class book, essential for law and journalism collections.
- Kenneth F. Kister, Poynter Inst. for Media Studies, St. Petersburg, Fla.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

"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, more frequent, 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

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (July 11, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195070003
• ISBN-13: 978-0195070002
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,869,549 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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