Does the law need to change if it is to meet the needs of society in the
21stCentury?
Modern social values have changed drastically over the past years and the law
needs to reflect the social change as it serves the needs of people to be protected
and safe. French sociologist Emile Durkheim had a typology of such as the changes
in the law are an indication of nature and type of social changes. This theory strongly
proved its meaning and realism since the 19th Century as we are experiencing
different morals and views on life that bring together different values in our modern
society. Law is an important feature of any society that keep the community
organised and safe, therefore the law should reflect social values and needs that are
important in the 21st Century. The question arising now, whether the law has to
change to meet modern society needs and values? Why can we not adapt and live
under laws created 100s years ago as earlier generations did?
The major and significant example of society changes over the last century is freshly
developed views and attitudes in regards to behaviour, race, gender, technology,
health, privacy and overall lifestyle. For example, same-sex relationships, adoption
and notion of equality became more acceptable in the society over the years. Over
decades same-sex marriage became more accepted by people and equal to the
traditional marriage what made it be a valuable factor within our society. This led to
the legalisation of same-sex marriage and amendments of Marriage (Same-Sex
Couples) Act 2013, Civil Partnership Act 2004 to legalise same-sex marriage
providing them with the same legal rights for marriage as traditional couples have. 1
The act also helped to fight homophobic judgment. Before the act was passed, there
was only one choice of Civil partnership available to same-sex couples, however, in
2013 the Marriage Act finally was extended to same-sex couples allowing them to
carry out their marriage in register offices.
Evolution of technologies and rapid expansion of the Internet gave online offenders
new creative ways for committing an online crime and people have started to be
concerned about their confidential informational. In the 21 st century, online crime
continues to rise over the years as the offenders are finding new ways of obtaining
1
Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport, Government Equalities Office, and The RT Hon
Maria Miller MP, 'Same sex marriage becomes law' (GOVUK,17 July 2013)
<https://www.gov.uk/government/news/same-sex-marriage-becomes-law> accessed 8 December
2020
, people personal information online. According to the Office of National Statistics,
63% of fraud incidents occurred online with no contact between the victim and the
offender and the most common ways is online, email or by telephone. Furthermore,
in 76% of fraud incidents, the victims suffered a financial loss which also called
online fraud. 2 One of the famous examples of online fraud is the case of British
Airways when their database was hacked in 2018 and about 380,000 customers’
bank card details were stolen.3 Another example is when Talk Talk data protection
breaches in 2015 and 2019 when confidential information of Talk Talk customers
was stolen and could be found online such as full names, addresses, email
addresses, phone numbers and bank cards details. 4 Therefore, with the significant
increase of people using online services and the company holding their personal
information, our society started to value their safety online and taking their online
activity more serious than before massive Internet expansion. To protect social
values and needs concerning online safety and privacy, The Data Protection Act was
implemented in 2018 by General Data Protection Regulations. 5 Enforcement of act
makes online business legally responsible for its customers' personal data and they
must be able to fairly, transparently and for explicitly specified purposes that
customer agrees to.
Freedom and independence were always an important factor of human life which the
society has fought for during World War II. In the first decade of the 20 th Century,
there was only one divorce for every 450 marriages.6 This reveals how the divorce
was something rare and scandalous however in modern time approximately 50% of
2
Meghan Elkin, 'Nature of fraud and computer misuse in England and Wales: year ending March
2019' (Office of National Statistics ,19 March 2020)
<https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/articles/
natureoffraudandcomputermisuseinenglandandwales/yearendingmarch2019#:~:text=1.-,Main
%20points,seen%20in%20other%20data%20sources.> accessed 8 December 2020
3
Smith Simon ,'British Airways hacked as 380,000 customers have bank card details
stolen' (Manchester Evening News , 7 September 2018)
<https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/british-airways-ba-
hacked-hack-15121213> accessed 9 December 2020
4
BBC News, 'TalkTalk data breach customer details found online' (BBC News, 21 May 2019)
<https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-48351900> accessed 9 December 2020
5
Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, 'Data Protection Act 2018 Factsheet – Overview’
(GOVUK, 23 May 2018)
<https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/
711162/2018-05-23_Factsheet_1_-_Act_overview.pdf> accessed 24 December 2020
6
Gavin Thompson and Others, Olympic Britain Social and Economic Change Since The
1908 and 1948 London Games (House of Commons Library 2012), p. 39
<https://www.parliament.uk/contentassets/3edf687d0e664304bdbc47fcacadd171/
olympicbritain.pdf#page=39> accessed 24 December 2020
