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UK government wants to move justice online - but can computers perform essentially human functions?

Online courts may replace justice, empathy and judgment with compromise and efficiency.

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MicroATX_Motherboard_with_AMD_Athlon_Processor_2_Digon3.jpg

A motherboard - lacking in the crucial skills of empathy and judgment. Image: Jonathan Zander/ Game Gavel, CC-BY-SA-3.0. Some rights reserved.

Lawyers and the legal system have cautiously embraced the technological revolution. Advances in communication and processing information have already transformed legal practice. Yet doubts arise when technology begins to replace functions which seem to need exclusively human qualities, such as judgement and empathy.