The Emerging Law of Electronic Commerce

In this chapter, I define the scope of electronic commerce law and discuss how law can evolve in response to rapid change in social and business practices. I summarize how commercial law has adapted to electronic sales of goods using EDI and Internet distribution systems, discuss the strengths and weaknesses from a legal perspective of a new technology-based model for electronic commerce - digital signatures and public key infrastructure - and compare that model with others for managing the legal risks of electronic sales of goods. I also summarize how changes in payment system technologies and bank practices have produced new laws governing electronic payment systems; and how financial markets have moved to electronic systems for transferring investment securities.