Over the past decades, code-driven methods of engineering have been slowly declining relative to data-driven approaches in legal informatics research. Paulus Meessen will present the results of a quantitative literature research project on the contemporary state of code-driven legal-informatics. The framing concept code-driven normativity, and quantified definitions of cross-disciplinarity and question-pull vs. technology-push were used to characterize that state of affairs.

The research is based on the findings of six framework questions, applied to 56 code-driven research papers from leading publications in legal informatics outlets. Despite the fact that legal informatics remains mostly a Computer Science field, the results show a fair amount of cross-disciplinary work between Law and Computer Science. Until now there appears a preference for advancing and innovating technologies in favor of the involvement of applied research questions from law or public administration.

Future visions for the code-driven legal informatics field align with what these quantitative framing concepts express. New journals like CRCL and workshops like ProLaLa are pushing for more cross-disciplinary collaborations, increased awareness of underlying normativity, and more methodological awareness of the boundary between applied and theoretical research.The goal of this presentation is to instigate a discussion about the state of cross-disciplinarity in legal informatics. Explication of the framing concepts in publications may shift the awareness of this topic without abandoning the cultural of pure computer science research lines.