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3 J. High Tech. L. 1 (2004)

handle is hein.journals/jhtl3 and id is 1 raw text is: Extraterritorial Jurisdiction: Can RICO Protect Human Rights?
A Computer Analysis of a Semi-Determinate Legal Question
Eric Allen Engle'
Cite as: 3 J. High Tech. L. 1 (2004)
I. USING COMPUTERS TO SIMULATE LEGAL DECISION MAKING
The ability of computers to perform complex tasks no longer
remains a subject of serious debate. Thus, the question whether
computers can model or simulate legal decision-making should be
increasingly replaced by the questions: 1) how should computers
assist in modelling legal decision-making and 2) what types of legal
decisions are scientifically most interesting and useful to model. This
article contends that semi-determinate partially solved legal
problems represent the most interesting questions susceptible to
computer analysis. A computer program accompanying this article
demonstrates this proposition, by modeling an as yet undetermined
question: whether the civil provisions of the Racketeering Influenced
and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO)2 have extraterritorial affect.
As evidence of the general acceptance of computer decision-
making ability, consider the development of tests for machine
intelligence. This history demonstrates the capacity and limits of
machine intelligence and which types of legal problems computer
programs analyze most efficiently. Discussion of several of the more
significant tests follows.
One of the first tests for artificial intelligence (A.I.), proposed by
computer pioneer Alan Turing,3 stated that machine intelligence
1. Eric Engle holds a J.D. from St. Louis University, a D.E.A. from Universit6
Paris II (Panth6on-Assass), a second D.E.A. from Universit6 Paris X (Nanterre) and
an LL.M.Eur. from the Universitit Bremen. He maintains a personal website at
http://www.lexnet.bravepages.com with links to on-line law resources. His other
writings can be found either on his web-site, on Lexis/Westlaw or via Google. He
is a research fellow at the Center for European Legal Policy at the Universitit
Bremen where he teaches courses in United States tort law and international human
rights law. The author wishes to thank Metacard Corp. (http://www.metacard.com)
and Runtime Revolution Ltd. (http://www.runrev.com) for supporting this project
with their fine program.
2. 18 U.S.C. §§ 1961-1968 (2000).
3. See The Alan Turing Homepage, at http://www.turing.org.uk/turing
(providing information on Alan Turing and his work).
(1)
Copyright C 2004 Journal of High Technology Law. All Rights Reserved. ISSN 1536-7983

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