ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) has started to revolutionise many workplaces and businesses. Lawyers and the legal profession are no exception. Of course, the legal profession has previously experienced technology revolutions, such as when the typewriter was first invented and when typewriters were subsequently replaced by word processing software.
If there is a difference between the past and the present, it is in the capacity of AI to perform a broad range of functions that were traditionally undertaken by human lawyers. It goes beyond simply recording and presenting information that is created by human lawyers and extends to generating information and making decisions in their place (for a discussion about related issues in the context of blockchain-based business models, see China Business Law Journal, volume 12, issue 9: Decentralised Autonomous Organisations).
This article outlines the impact of typewriters and word processing software on the legal profession and legal practice, and then discusses a recent discovery in the US: the prototype of the Ming Kwai Chinese typewriter [明快打字机] invented by Lin Yutang (林语堂) in 1946.
From typewriters to software
Before typewriters were invented, lawyers in England and other jurisdictions had to draft legal advice and legal documents by hand. Because this was a time-consuming task, they employed clerks or assistants, known as “copyists” or “scriveners”, to produce and proofread copies of documents. Their role was important as the lawyer’s reputation depended on the accuracy of the contracts that their scriveners produced.
As noted in a previous column (CBLJ, volume 1, issue 6: Terms for describing lawyers and why they matter), the history of the legal profession in China is much shorter than in England and other common law jurisdictions.
Attempts to build a distinct legal profession were first made towards the end of the Qing Dynasty (late 19th century), but it was only in the Republican Period (1911 to 1949) that modern laws and regulations were issued to govern lawyers. The development of the legal profession fell off the agenda after the revolution of 1949, and did not re-emerge until the adoption of the modern economic reform programme in 1979.
Prior to the late Qing Dynasty, litigants generally represented themselves in court, and there was no distinct profession of lawyers or advocates who would appear and argue on behalf of litigants. For those who were illiterate or lacking in social connections, assistance was provided by “litigation agents” or “litigation scribes” (songshi, 讼师), who would draft court documents, act as “go-betweens” between their clients and the courts, and formulate strategies for winning the case.
Typewriters that could type Chinese characters appeared in the first two decades of the 20th century. Prior to that time, contracts and official documents were produced by hand and by means of block printing, which was invented in China during the Tang Dynasty (618 to 907).
In Western jurisdictions, the arrival of the commercial typewriter in the late 19th century revolutionised legal practice for at least two reasons. First, typewriters could produce documents faster than scriveners who used a pen. Second, the use of carbon paper with typewriters meant that multiple copies could be produced at the same time.
Of course, it was still necessary to have humans to operate typewriters. However, the emergence of a professional secretarial workforce simplified the process of producing documents and made it easier for lawyers, or junior lawyers, to proofread documents themselves.
The development of word processing software began soon after the arrival of personal computers in the late 1970s. Like typewriters in the earlier period, word processing software in the modern period has brought about a revolution in legal practice.
Word processing software offers significant advantages over typewriters: a document can be prepared and stored electronically; it is easy to delete, replace or reformat text; and the ability to copy and paste large texts from other documents has resulted in huge efficiencies, not only in terms of time but also in terms of resources, including a reduction in the use of paper.
In addition, the production and storage of documents in electronic form make it easy to search and retrieve text and information.
Further technology revolutions in word processing occurred with the arrival of voice recognition technology in the 1990s.
Ming Kwai Chinese typewriter
Earlier this year, Stanford University history professor Thomas Mullaney came across a message posted on Facebook. The message, a copy of which appears below, noted that an old Chinese typewriter had been found in a basement in New York.
The history professor realised that this was a significant discovery as it was the prototype – and indeed the only example – of the Ming Kwai typewriter that had been invented by an intellectual, writer, linguist and social critic from China, whose name was Lin Yutang (林语堂), who lived between 1895 and 1976.
Although the typewriter was not a commercial success when it was manufactured in 1947, it is understood to have played a
pivotal role in translation research during the Cold War. In addition, its design is said to have foreshadowed the systems for typing Chinese, Japanese and Korean today.
In one of the works for which Lin Yutang is best known – a book called My Country and My People (1936) – Lin included the following text from the Confucian Analects as the epigraph at the beginning of the book:
Truth does not depart from human nature. If what is regarded as truth departs from human nature, it may not be regarded as truth.
There are other ways in which the above-mentioned text might be translated into English, including as follows: “The Way is not far from people. If a person practises the Way but distances themselves from people, it cannot be regarded as the Way.”
Irrespective of the preferred English translation, the text highlights how Confucian philosophy adopted a human perspective in determining the truth, or the Way. In a legal context, the importance of the human perspective might be said to be reflected in how the rules governing relations between members of society are designed and applied, and how disputes are resolved (for discussion about related issues, see CBLJ volume 3, issue 5: Law or equity; CBLJ volume 11 issue 7: The notion of justice; CBLJ volume 2, issue 9: Alternative dispute resolution: mediation or conciliation?).
Although Lin Yutang recognised the profound impact of Confucianism on Chinese society, he advocated that China should move away from “rule of man” or renzhi [人治] towards “rule of law” or fazhi [法治]. In an essay published in 1930, Lin referred to the legalist philosopher, Han Fei [韩非], and wrote as follows:
“Han Fei, as you already know, was a thinker of the legalist school; of this school, he was the last and also the greatest. As a legalist thinker, he believed in government by law, rather than the Confucian government by benevolent rulers and, as you will soon see, that is exactly what China needs.”
Lin’s invention – the Ming Kwai Chinese typewriter – survives as an example of his desire to support and preserve Chinese culture; in this case, culture as reflected in Chinese characters. The development of technology to type Chinese characters meant that the Chinese language was not at a disadvantage compared with languages that had a phonetic script, and it has been able to perform an integral role in the law and the legal system in the same way as other languages.
