From Clay Tablets To Ajax: Replicating Writing and Documents in Internet Transactions

摘要

This article addresses the absence of paper and the challenges of transposing the traditional legal concepts of "writing" and "document" into an environment consisting of interactive and interconnected files. Both "writing" and "documents" are concepts that rely on tangible carriers, such as paper.1 Accordingly, legal principles involving either concept presume not only a certain durability, but also the stability and confinement of the information conveyed. What happens when writing is no longer contained on paper? Can writing exist without documents? Is it correct to speak of a "document" if its contents are transient and its scope is difficult to determine?