Unbound Law

"Life is openness," Professor Ong reminds us. ²¹⁰ Yet, law as we know it, closes in on life. Emerging electronic technologies ²¹¹ may transform the law into an "open­system paradigm," ²¹² which situates persons more in context­more in the environment of their daily lives. The question that remains is whether law may be open more to life and still remain law.

Predictably, the transition to an open­minded ("open­minded") paradigm in law will disturb closed­system ("closed­minded") thinkers who find security and truth in the fixed and narrowed reality of the age of print. ²¹³ They may take some solace, however, in the recognition that paratexts are, after all, "texts" and may be "read" under the supervision of the closure principle.

"There are problems and opportunities with both closure and openness, and we all are going to have to live with the problems and opportunities there are." ²¹⁴ The magnitude of these problems and the measure of these opportunities cannot, at this point, be determined. Law in the electronic milieu is just beginning to break out of the confines of the print era and assert itself fully. Any judgment of paratexts, therefore, is necessarily more speculative than certain. For now, it is enough to "say" that we are entering a challenging era, one in which law will no longer be confined by print. For better or for worse, law, like Prometheus, may soon be unbound ...