From Codex to Code: The Digital Transformation of Legal Texts

Through the integration of doctrinal and technical approaches, a new perspective on the ongoing evolution of the law emerges, both as a subject of regulation and as an object of computer implementation. In an era in which the law is no longer restricted to printed codes but operates within complex information systems, this volume offers an in-depth analysis of the very concept of legal text. Moving beyond paper-based, document-centric paradigms of law, this book introduces the concept of legal cybertext: a normative, structured, increasingly adaptive, and machine-processable form of text shaped by legal information technologies.
The book develops the theoretical foundations of legal cybertext and examines how digital media transform the very nature of legal textuality. It reconceptualises legal texts as information systems, focusing on automated legal drafting, metadata standards, and e-legislation infrastructures. Finally, it presents future directions of development, including semantic automation, legal ontologies, visualisation tools, and the growing role of AI and blockchain in legal drafting and contracting.
Drawing on an interdisciplinary range of expertise - from legal theory and text linguistics to computer science - the contributors demonstrate how legal provisions and contractual clauses are evolving from traditional forms into hypertextual and data-driven structures. The research presented in the book indicates that the cybertextuality of law transforms legal systems from static collections of legal acts into systems that enable automated reasoning and adaptive access to legal information. The analysis places these transformations within the broader regulatory context of the European Union. It will be welcomed by lawyers, legislators, regulators or legal tech practitioners who seek insight into the effects of the automation of law on legal drafting and interpretation.
More than anything else, this book shows that the future of law lies not merely in the digital format of legal content, but in the transformation of legal data into a highly ordered, transparent and interactive information system.