The 'rule of law' implications of data-driven decision-making: A techno-regulatory perspective

Techno-regulation is a prominent mechanism for regulating human behaviour. One type of techno-regulation concerns automated decision-making with legal effects. While automated decision-making (ADM) systems in the public domain have traditionally been based on conscious design of decisional norms, increasingly, Data Science methodologies are used to devise these norms. This data-driven approach causes frictions with the underlying principle of public-sector decision-making, namely adherence to the rule of law. In this paper we discuss three major challenges data-driven ADM poses to the Rule Law: law as a normative enterprise, law as a causative enterprise and law as a moral enterprise.