Technological change forces courts to extend old statutes to unanticipated situations.

Evidence

Social and technological changes may also produce situations that not even the most farsighted legislator could have anticipated. Diamond v. Chakrabarty (1980) illustrates how such changes may provide occasions for judicial policymaking. Chakrabarty had created a living microorganism under laboratory conditions and applied for a patent for his invention. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1421

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Inductive reasoning allows the law to adapt to changing societal times. — Ruggero J. Aldisert, Agatha D. Aldisert, Logic for Lawyers- A Guide to Clear…, 613; Court structural reforms produce diverse and often unanticipated governance effects — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 459; Legal innovations follow new commercial practices as they arise. — PAUL R. MILGRO, PAUL R. MILGRO - THE ROLE OF…, 33 (+11 more)

Broader Connections

• Inductive reasoning allows the law to adapt to changing societal times. #corroborates (0.85) — Ruggero J. Aldisert, Agatha D. Aldisert, Logic for Lawyers- A Guide to Clear…, 613
• The common law adapts to social and economic change #corroborates (0.82) — Ruggero J. Aldisert, Agatha D. Aldisert, Logic for Lawyers- A Guide to Clear…, 1311
• Legal innovations follow new commercial practices as they arise. #corroborates (0.80) — PAUL R. MILGRO, PAUL R. MILGRO - THE ROLE OF…, 33
• Courts reason that binding successors harms the public by blocking adaptive response to change #corroborates (0.78) — Daryl Levinson and Benjamin I. Sachs, Political Entrenchment and Public Law, 132
• Judges create law when forced to resolve statutory ambiguity. #expands (0.75) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 187
• The shift from benefit-giving to conduct-regulating statutes fed litigation and judicial policymaking. #exemplifies (0.73) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 2831
• Materiality of a new circumstance determines whether precedent extends to analogous facts. #expands (0.72) — Ruggero J. Aldisert, Agatha D. Aldisert, Logic for Lawyers- A Guide to Clear…, 1292
• Court structural reforms produce diverse and often unanticipated governance effects #expands (0.70) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 459
• Addressing data colonialism requires major new legal innovation. #exemplifies (0.70) — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 551