Old Rules for New Tools: Traditional Liability Rules and Technological Development

Old Rules for New Tools: Traditional Liability Rules and Technological Development

Nadia Coggiola
Copyright: © 2022 |Pages: 19
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-7998-8476-7.ch011
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Abstract

The aim of this chapter is to investigate the features and problems posed by the damages that may be caused by the surge of new technologies, such as drones, artificial intelligence, and robots, and the solution found to those problems using the traditional civil liability tools of liability for fault, strict liability, and compulsory insurance. Notwithstanding the theoretically possible different remedies that could be applied in these cases, the authors discover that the traditional tools of liability for fault, strict liability, and compulsory insurance are most probably the best suited for the compensation of the damages caused by the new technologies.
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The Evolution Of The Compensation Of Technological Damages In The Xixth And Xxth Century

Legal history offers plenty of examples where the introduction of a new technology started a heated public and legal debate on what remedies should be offered to the damaged parties, if any, and who should bear the responsibility for those damages.

One of the most notorious cases is that of the construction of railways during the XIXth Century, which in many countries caused a long lasting political and legal fight between the old social class of the land owners and the rising social class of the entrepreneurs. The issue at stake was that of finding a balance between the rights and the economic interests of the land owners, who were first deprived of their lands in force of expropriations aimed at building the railways tracks and then, once the railways were built and operative, damaged by the fires caused by the sparks of the train engines, and the rights and commercial interests of the entrepreneurs, who built and ran the railways, fostering the general increase of industries and commercial activities (Martín-Casals, 2010; Kostal, 1994Kleeberg, 2003; Gregory, 1951; Rabin, 1981; Schwartz, 1981; Schwartz, 1988-1989).

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