Translating Law and Code in Government
Algorithmic Decisions and Their Legal Effects in Canada
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5337534 |
|---|---|
| Authors | M Zajko (0000-0001-7804-4618, University of British Columbia, Okanagan Campus, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Publication date | 2024-10-25 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Science Technology & Human Values (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0162-2439 • E-ISSN: 1552-8251 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/01622439241289154 |
| OpenAlex | W4403774781 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 35 |
This article analyzes the translation of law into computer code and the use of automated decision-making systems in government to make legal distinctions. Specifically, how are algorithmic decisions tied to law, and what happens when legal effects are mediated through technologies? The sociology of translation and Bruno Latour's theory of law, as elaborated by Kyle McGee, provides the means to study associations between law and technology. I trace how the force of law can be extended when mediated through computer systems and analyze the associations of law and technology in Canada's government, through projects exemplifying the shift to "code-driven law." These include the translation of "rules-as-code," and several of the sociotechnical systems governing Canada's borders, demonstrating how design choices in government digital services inevitably shape the outcomes of public policy and can have legal effects. While Latour's legal scholarship avoided traditional questions of legitimacy, a key consideration for automated government systems is how legitimacy is constructed and contested. For rules-as-code, legitimate algorithmic outcomes should be traceable to law, but existing government systems commonly maintain legitimacy by identifying a human actor "in-the-loop" as the ultimate decision-maker, thereby obscuring how thoroughly imbricated human and algorithmic agency are in contemporary governance
Law and economics · Political science · Programming language · Sociology · Comparative and International Law Studies · Computer Science · European Criminal Justice and Data Protection · Law · Regulation and Compliance Studies
Shaping technology/building society
Smart Technologies and the End(s) of Law
The Threat of Algocracy
Legitimacy of Algorithmic Decision-Making
Policy translation
What is ‘translation’
Science, Technology, Society, and Law
Algorithms as figures
Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace
Why e-government projects fail? An analysis of the Healthcare.gov website
And say the AI responded? Dancing around ‘autonomy’ in AI/human encounters
Introduction
Canadian government policy innovation labs
Directly Discriminatory Algorithms
Algorithmic governance
Artificial intelligence, bureaucratic form, and discretion in public service
The agency of algorithms
Actor-Network Theory and methodology
Legal Pluralism in Infrastructural Designs
The Double Darkness of Digitalization
Can an Algorithm be Agonistic? Ten Scenes from Life in Calculated Publics
The ethnographer and the algorithm
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |