One of the most important themes about our legal system is that the law evolves. It must! While the Founding Fathers never even dreamed about something like computer hacking. society and its legal system need to be able to develop laws to address all sorts of issues that did not exist then.

While our legal system treats existing law and prior cases with great deference, technology often drives (necessary) changes in the law. The law also needs to adjust to changes in societal values and mores. Sometimes the legal system drags a little bit behind changes in society and sometimes it is asked by society to lead the way.

We will explore at least one example of each of these approaches. To start off, can you think of examples of how we have watched (or are watching) the law respond to changes in society?