Computerworld Opinion – 10GB of e-mail could cost you $1M:
The growing number of e-discovery requests associated with the recently updated Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) is forcing companies to look for ways to automate their e-discovery process (see “FAQ: Changes to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedures Affect Storage Plans“).
The Roman civil law tradition (which prevails in Europe) has had a larger impact on American jurisprudence than is generally acknowledged. Indeed, although the United States considers itself a common-law country, we in fact use a system that combines common (judge-made, customary, adversarial, precedent-focused) with civil (usually statute-based and inquisitorial) law, but which in England focused on "equity" or fairness and justice.
One of the defining characteristics of common law (as opposed to civil law) is the binding nature of precedent, sometimes referred to by its Latin name of stare decisis. But before the seventeenth century, the defining characteristic of English common law was not this one, but rather that common law reflected universal and customary law, and as such the goal was for judges to utilize previous decisions as merely guides to help them get closer to the true (unwritten) laws of England, not as binding in themselves.
For two weeks this July, I participated in a conference/summer session in Vienna (VISU) on the nature of scientific evidence. The program brought together students and lecturers from a number of disciplines.
Civil law and courts of equity: the common law is hybrid law
I'm currently a graduate student of the history of law and technology at the University of California, San Diego. I also provide law and technology consulting services.
Additionally, I'm a non-practicing lawyer and former developer/sysadmin at a biotech non-profit. For more about me and my work, see krisnelson.org or my Google Profile. Post title: Opinion: 10GB of e-mail could cost you $1M
Authored by: Kristopher Nelson
Date posted: Jan 12, 2008
Categorized as: law • technology
Tagged with: civil procedure • discovery • evidence • law
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