Title: LEGAL CONSTRAINTS FOR AML IN A CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY

To count as law in a constitutional democracy, two fundamental requirements must be met: 

1. the creation of law is initiated by a democratic legislator, and 

2. its application can be contested in a court of law. 

In fact, technological articulation of legal norms in a constitutional democracy demands specific checks and balances at three different levels: 

1. the level of legislation (which is both legal and political). At this level, the use of specific technologies to support or enforce legal rules needs democratic legitimisation and needs to fit constitutional demands; 

2. the level of administration (which is both legal and executive). At this level, the use of specific technologies to support or enforce legal rules needs to comply with the principles of fair and transparent administration; 

3. the level of adjudication (which is legal, political, and executive, because it determines the scope of the law). At this level, the use of specific technologies to support or enforce legal rules must be made contestable. 

For Ambient Law – a law that effectively protects and facilitates interactions in an AmI environment – these requirements will have to be taken into account when developing the concept of AmL, when preparing statutes that embody AmL and when building the relevant prototypes.  

Altogether, this means that AmL is NOT: 

1. just the autonomic application of legal rules, or 

2. an alternative for legal rules. 

Rather, AmL is: 

1. the embodiment of legal rules in the emerging technologies they aim to regulate.