Introducing Open Source Legal Systems

The Evolution of Law Without Government

As it turns out, the government is not good at creating effective or peaceful codes of law. While people tire of being trampled under foot by these outdated government legal systems, visionaries begin to explore completely new and voluntary models of law that are more pragmatic for the modern world. Forms of private arbitration have been theoretically discussed since the beginning of Voluntaryist philosophy. However, technology is in the works to put these theories into practice.

The inefficiency, incompetence, and negligence of government legal systems often leave people in a bitter state of inaction. After all, how can individuals begin to resolve such a fundamental and complicated problem such as law? Even then, how can individuals with different needs and perspectives find harmony in multiple systems of law? Fortunately, ingenious ideas concerning this matter are on the horizon.

Open-Source Legal Systems

The system of law is one of the most important structures of human society; it can save or it can kill many people. Unfortunately, the latter seems to be the more common pattern in legal systems of most countries.

As we have seen, the resolution to many complex problems are outsourcing them to the free market and decentralized, open-source technologies such as the blockchain. Now, brilliant minds begin to apply this same idea of open-source code of software to an open-source code of law. The Startup Societies Foundation and The Institute for Competitive Governance are launching a crowdfunding campaign for Ulex: a decentralized, open-source legal operating system. Ulex not only seeks to create a more efficient and peaceful dispute resolution process and rule of law altogether, but to encourage economic growth for those it serves. This is revolutionary in the technical sense of its framework and also in the sense that it is voluntarily adopted by mutual consent of those it governs. It is not affiliated with any political institution or the influence of any state government. Rather, it is pulling research from common law and international legal traditions that have been successful around the globe. It seeks to evolve governance to the degree that the blockchain has evolved software, through the ingenuity of the market.

How Does Ulex Work?

“Ulex provides an open-source legal system for special jurisdictions, ZEDEs, seasteads, and other startup communities. It combines tested and trusted rule sets from private and international organizations in a robust but flexible configuration. Ulex protects personal and property rights with an efficient and fair dispute resolution process, promoting the rule of law. It is not imposed by any government but instead adopted by the mutual consent of those it governs.” (“Ulex, an Open Source Legal System, in One Page”, 2018).

As an open-source framework inspired by Unix, GNU, and Linux, the rules of law for individuals or individual communities can be “downloaded, used, and modified by the public at large, voluntarily, and free of charge.”(“Ulex, an Open Source Legal System, in One Page”, 2018). Whereas the codes of Linux run on computers, Ulex codes of law will run in communities.

The minds behind Ulex believe that “making it easier and more efficient to resolve disputes, and that properly aligning incentives and assuring trust between parties are keys to successful projects ” (“Law Doesn’t Have To Come From Government, Here’s How,” 2018).

Though the project is still relatively young in it’s developmental process, there is ample information presenting the fundamental ideas and structure it is building. The basic principles behind the legal processes they are developing in Ulex is efficiency, mutual agreement, flexibility, and innovation.

While I am not going to go into depth about the particular legal framework in this article, the reader can find this information in the links below.

What Can Ulex Bring to the Table?

For decades, we have discussed the theory of natural law in a sovereign society. While this is a topic of much intense disagreement, emerging is a solution of many possibilities of implementing different systems of voluntary law. In its effective harnessing of modern technology, Ulex holds a lot of potential of creating a competitive market of voluntary law that is unlike the current systems of coercion and inherent economic inefficiency.

This is a huge step towards toward a humanitarian vision: creating a market of voluntary governance. Not only does it propose a far better alternative to State Law, but it is proposes an entire market of better alternatives that could be customized specifically for certain purposes. Furthermore, all of these models, successful or not, can help us to understand more about the practice of law in the modern world. Through trial and error, we can find the best structures of law for our species. It also will serve as physical evidence that violence and coercion is absolutely unnecessary for successfully solving disputes or establishing laws in a particular area.

“The result can be a web of open collaboration where trust is less necessary: less friction, lower costs and faster solutions allow for greater agility in all walks of life” (“Law Doesn’t Have To Come From Government, Here’s How,” 2018).

Conclusion

Though only the beginning, there is much substance in this idea as well as openness to collaboration and contributions from peers. Taking the code of law to an open-source, decentralized operating system is a remarkable step, as we have seen the results of high innovation this technology is capable in many other fields such as software, currency, and even social media. One can imagine the progress to be made if we can improve what is possibly the greatest obstruction to liberty and peace in the physical world.