Kerimov, Djanger A.

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Cybernetics and Soviet Jurisprudence

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CYBERNETICS AND SOVIET JURISPRUDENCEDJANGnt A. KEMov*As the science encompassing the most general principles and optimum conditionsfor controlling different systems, cybernetics can be used in developing public law.This idea has been made more explicit and substantiated in works by Soviet jurists.A Legal Section has been set up in the Scientific Council on Cybernetics ofthe USSR Academy of Sciences to unite and coordinate theoretical and practicalwork in the Soviet judicial system with the object of applying cybernetic means andmethods in the process of solving problems of law and criminology.Although all control processes are governed by common rules and have commontraits (i.e., obtaining information, coding and processing, storing and transmitting),each process of control proceeds differently, depending on its specificity. This makesnecessary a careful study of the specific nature of control, particularly in the sphereof public law, for the purpose of working out the most effective machine language,algorithms, and programming, as well as for developing a logical informationmachine for solving problems of public law.I vigorously object to the viewjoint that the application of cybernetics to socialprocesses will entail changes in the class structure of society, that the developmentof cybernetic techniques will in time lead to man's creative labor being completelyreplaced by the machine, and that in the future the "controlling" machine willexercise political power over the world. Such reasoning appears to me frivolous.Even the most perfect machine will never be able to replace the creative effort andresponsibility of man in any decision on a public matter, ie., the legal regulation, ofsocial relations. There should be no illusions on that score.The wealth of cybernetic possibilities will be realized in the sphere of public lawonly if account is taken of the laws of Marxist-Leninist sociology. This requires thestudy of the qualitative peculiarity of the social processes. Cybernetic machines willtake over the most labor-consuming mechanical operations, freeing civil servants andlaw specialists to carry on higher forms of creative activity. The more labor functionsare transferred to machines, the more the human in the human being will flourish,to use Karl Marx's expression. A cybernetic machine, especially in a socialist society,is no competitor of man, but an excellent instrument of his will-a reliable helperwho multiplies the transforming power of his mind.We must bear in mind that without the participation of specialists in the law,not even a highly-qualified cybernetics expert can apply the means and methods ofcybernetics in the juridical sciences. The intricate problems of cybernetics in thesphere of public law can be solved only through the cooperation of engineers,*Doctor of Legal Science, Leningrad x96x. Professor of Law -nd Head, Department of the Theoryand History of State and Law, Leningrad University.'3 KaRL MA x, DAs KAPiTAL 873-74 (6th ed. Berlin, 1957).LAW AND CoNTEMPORARY PROBLrsmathematicians, psychologists, economists, and representatives of other sciences withtheoretical and practical workers in the field of jurisprudence. Among these prob-lems are reference and information service in the sphere of law, some aspects oflegislation and codification,2 generalization of judicial practice, interpretation andapplication of legal norms, regular analysis of crime and convictions, the study ofthe causes of crime and the effectiveness of measures for wiping out crime, examina-tions by experts in criminalistics, and so on.i. Legal Reference and Information ServicesLet us take, for instance, the organization of a legal reference and informationservice. In seeking a solution for many theoretical and practical problems we find itnecessary to familiarize ourselves with the results of all earlier investigations relatedto the problem in which we are interested, as well as all legislation and other legalmaterials which have a bearing on the problem. Already in the very early stages ofwork on a legal problem one begins to think about where the needed information canbe found. When dealing with many problems of legislation, codification, interpreta-tion, and application of the law, a quick and accurate orientation in the most diverseand rather broad sphere of legislation is required.Legal rules, theoretical publications, and other legal materials evidently willincrease in number. Hence, practitioners and theoreticians alike will have to spendmore time searching for the needed legal information, leaving very little time forcreative work. We therefore have to make use of the incomparably more effectivemeans of finding, transmitting, and processing information now developed on thebasis of the achievements of cybernetics.The organization of a machine reference and information service in the sphereof law has a number of indisputable advantages. A special cybernetic system iscapable of storing a large volume of information. It can quickly furnish any part'of the stored information required, systematize such materials logically, and furnishlegal information of the most diverse kinds, such as by country, historical periods,branch of the law, subject and method of legal regulation, and so on. Furthermore,what is especially important, a special cybernetic system can supply any desiredcombination of these materials.2. Legislation and CodificationTake another problem of public law: legislation and codification. In the SovietUnion, millions of private citizens are enlisted to take part in the legislative process.At the stage of discussing draft laws, Soviet people express a vast number of con-crete proposals, observations, and desires; and this participation by the whole nationin the discussion of bills makes for better Soviet laws. Not only in the process ofnational discussion of draft laws, but also in their daily public activity-especially2 As herein used, codification refers primarily-but not exclusively-to the compilation and con-solidation of statutes and statutory instruments.CYBE rTICS AND SOVIET JURISPRUDENCE 73during election campaigns-Soviet people advance valuable ideas for legislation, aswell as other proposals on questions of law.The need of properly and accurately expressing in Soviet law the common will ofthe whole people, of reflecting the matured and maturing requirements of progres-sive social development comprehensively and most expediently, gives rise to certaindifficulties. All these difficulties will be eliminated by the use of the latest cyberneticequipment. With the aid of this equipment, full account can be taken of the sug-gestions made. A preliminary classification of the discussion materials can beundertaken in very brief time; and the machine's memory will ensure the orderlystorage of the legislative recommendations which for one reason or another werenot incorporated in the law as enacted but which might be utilized in future legisla-tion. Cybernetic machines will also be of inestimable help in counting the votescast in national referenda.In the process of working on a draft of an important law, we must, as a rule,make a comparative analysis of the contents, the forms, the practical operation oflegal rules regulating similar relations in the legislative systems of other countriesor in other historical periods. A cybernetic machine can quickly select the data forsuch an analysis from the materials stored in its memory.As we know, in the process of codification a lot of mental labor-in manycases "mechanical"--is expended, especially where the legislative materials involvedare voluminous and fragmentary and have not been classified and systematized in anumber of years. The special logical information machines can carry out variouskinds of logical operations, such as finding the contradictions, inconsistencies, andduplications in existing legislation; and thereby not only lighten the codifier's burden,but also make for better codification.No less effective is the application of the means and methods of cybernetics ingeneralizing judicial practice, i.e., searching for the most often repeated judicialerrors; to bring out statistical indices for different offenses and their objects; tostudy the causes of crime and the effectiveness of measures for eradicating crime;to make various kinds of criminalistic examinations, and so on.3. Law TeachingWe shall now deal with the use of cybernetic programming for law teaching.Regular strengthening of socialist law and ensuring exemplary law and order in theSoviet Union requires the training of highly qualified specialists in state administra-tion and in jurisprudence. And while the Soviet universities cope with this problemquite successfully, this does not mean that we can not improve the system of legaleducation, in particular by the use of programmed teaching.Research has permitted us to arrive at certain conclusions concerning the effective-ness of programmed teaching by means of cybernetics. Study becomes morevigorous; the role played by students working independently grows greater;and it takes less time to acquire the habit of independent thinking. The varietyLAW AND CONTEMPORARY PROBLEMSof forms -in which the educational material is presented (printed, graphic,sound and TV screen) increases the volume of knowledge and improves itsquality. Instruction takes on an individualized character, which takes into accountthe capability, bent, and speed with which each student masters the particulareducational material. A greater demand is made upon the teachers, who have toknow the material to perfection to be able to prepare for the most efficient pro-gramming, to understand more thoroughly the psychology of teaching, to analyzethe reasons why some students find it difficult to assimilate the material and theways to overcome the difficulties, and to change the tasks and methods of instructionby means of cybernetic-programming. The term of study is cut considerably, whichin the final analysis means a saving of means spent by society on the system ofeducation as a whole.While instruction by cybernetic programming cannot completely take the placeof the existing system of legal education, its use for conveying the needed legalinformation and knowledge to students is certainly advisable. Through the in-troduction of cybernetic programming into teaching we shall attain a higher degreeof assimilation by students of such essential knowledge as classification of stateorgans; the structure, powers, and operation of state organs; the forms in which thelaw is created, their correlation, and legal force; the classification of legal standards,legal relationships, and juridical facts; the substance of legislation by branches oflaw or branches of the national economy; the rules for interpreting and applying thenorms of the law; the operation of legal standards with respect to time, space, andsection of the population; methods of legislative techniques used in current legisla-tion and codification.In addition to this, however, every lawyer must understand the essence of aparticular state and its law, the class basis of a particular type of state and particularsystem of law, the particular role and social purpose of a particular state and law invarious socioeconomic settings, and so on. And in respect of these the cyberneticprogramming method will not work. Hence, in my opinion, the system of legaleducation should be built on the principle of combining the usual methods of teachingwith the gradual introduction of cybernetic-programming instruction, a combinationwhich will yield more effective results.In this connection, I must say that the American specialists' tendency towardteaching by programming in a utilitarian way is inadmissible as far as we are con-cerned because it materially limits the possibility of independent search, comparisonof possible solutions, and decision. In brief, it restricts the creative effort of thestudents and the development of their capabilities. Study with the aid of machineswill require far more general use of special cybernetic equipment as well as a farmore "interesting," more "flexible" and more "elastic" program of study.4. Coding ProblemsThe Legal Section of the Academy of Sciences Scientific Council on Cyberneticsis now engaged in working out a law information machine language. There hasCYBERNETICS AND SOVIET JURISPRUDENCE 75to be worked out a system of attributes by which the legal material inserted into themachine is classified. To illustrate, the legislation of a country should be identifiedby a permanent code (special for each country) to be stored in fixed sections of thestorage cell. This will make it possible to obtain quickly and simply all the informa-tion wanted about the legislation of the particular country. And, further, if everylegal institution is identified by its permanent code situated in other fixed sections ofthe storage cell, by using this group of permanent codes it will be possible to obtainsimply and quickly all information concerning a particular institution. Lastly, thatwill enable us to obtain all information wanted about a particular legal institutionof the specific country in which we are interested.The attributes by which the machine is to operate may vary greatly, and beapplied in most diverse combinations. The system of attributes, for instance, mayinclude the operation of legal norms in a particular part of the country; their applica-bility as regards different groups of the population, the respective organs, organiza-tions, and officials; and the restriction of the application of the norms with respect tosex, age, family status, and so on.Before the machine starts functioning, a specialist selects the information to beinserted, which in the process of its operation does not change the volume of informa-tion inserted in the machine (the feedback is actually a duplication of the informationasked without elimination of the master information in the machine's memory).In contrast to this, all the other problems examined below relate to inserting in themachine specific selection criteria by the use of which the machine will not storeevery information but only such as is needed by the consumer.The selection criteria (like the classification attributes for the preceding problem)may vary. The simplest criterion is the application of the legal norms with respectto time. This leads to the next special type of problem, the solution of which willmake it possible to establish which of the laws or sections of statutes are no longerin force or still operate. In particular, where the law is codified the niachine will beable to discover in the vast mass of legislative material the norms or sections whicheither have been repealed by later laws or whose period of operation has ended.This requires determining (I) the system of attributes characterizing the term ofoperation of legal norms, (2) the method for extracting these attributes in amachine analysis of the legal text, and (3) the algorithm of the correlation of thesegttributes between themselves and the subsequent inference whether the norms arestill in force.Another selection criterion is checking the legislative material as to duplications.The machine can scan voluminous materials in brief time and discover not onlynominal duplications but also duplications in essence (even where the verbal formu-lations of the law differ to a certain extent). Thus, in the course of drafting astatute, it would be advisable in many cases to find out with the aid of the machinewhether the draft contains any provisions which fully or substantially duplicatealready existing legislation. The machine, of course, would merely indicate theLAW AND CONTEMPORARY PROBLEMSduplication, and it would be up to the legislative body to decide which of theredundant provisions should be approved because of their special significance- andwhich should be deleted from the draft. The special problem in such cases is towork out the coding of the materials, i.e., to determine specific ways of labelingthe components of the legal texts. The use of such labels will permit supplying thelegal information in such a manner that the machine will be able to reveal theidentical parts of legal texts.The next selection criteria consist in making sure that there is nothing con-tradictory in the material to be inserted in the machine. A good illustration is themechanization of graphological examinations needed for judicial purposes. For suchexpert examination, at first one part of the text is inserted in the machine. Withthe aid of the reading device, this is analyzed in conformity with the set program;and the machine's memory retains the numerical characteristics of the graphicpeculiarities of the text (the handwriting). The subsequent insertion of the otherparts of the same text makes it possible for the machine to reveal whether thenumerical characteristics are the same in all the parts, or whether some sections ofthe text possess other numerical characteristics and hence are written by a differenthand. In cases of this kind the problem, in the main, boils down to setting up asystem of characteristics a deviation from which could with sufficient certainty bequalified as an inner contradiction of the material.5. Conclusion and OutlookDelinquency cannot be combated or prevented without keeping a record of thedifferent forms of offenses and their cause. In many cases so many factors areinvolved that they cannot be encompassed without the use of electronic computers.Cybernetics can be used in the examination of handwritings and in forensic bal-listics. Articles of the most diverse kind are objects of criminalistic examination.Many of them require a method of their own, and diversified apparatus. Here weface many independent problems in the solution of which the methods of applyingcybernetics will be far from alike. Cybernetic methods may substantially influencethe theory of criminalistic identification, a theory which embraces the general aspectsof many spheres of criminalistics and is of great importance for expert testimony.The 'problems of using cybernetics for the objectification of criminalistic investiga-tions of material evidence art currently being studied.Some results of research in cybernetics have already been realized in practice.For instance, the methodological problems have been worked out in the main; andexperimental attempts to organize a legal reference and information service in thefield of law have been successful. In response to inquiry, the machine gave outevery kind of information on existing legislation stored in its memory. Criminaloffetses, in particular offenses against socialist property, have been programmed.a case (in particular 'to determine damages to be assessed to each 'individual de.Electronic computers are used also to solve separate problems arising in the trial ofCYBENETIcs AND SOVIET JURISPRUDENCE 77fendant where a number of defendants are charged with causing damage to publicproperty). An automatic dactyloscoping machine which can instantly find theneeded fingerprint card has been developed.Some three years ago the Soviet government adopted a comprehensive programfor mechanizing accounting, planning and designing, and engineering and technicalservices. When the program is carried out, many people will be released for otherwork. There will. be an immense saving in time and money, and the work ofmanaging the planned and progressive development of our society (and of servicesconnected therewith) will be facilitated considerably.

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Cybernetics and Soviet Jurisprudence

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