Member-only story
Afterlife Law: Cases and Materials
What happens to the law when technology lets us live forever?
Some years ago I was wandering the stacks of the law library in Langdell Hall, looking for what I couldn’t tell you. I never found it, though, because my attention was diverted by a strange-looking book.
It seemed never to have been opened, for its spine was unblemished. And its gilt lettering shone so brightly that when I first read the title, I assumed my eyes must be playing tricks.
Afterlife Law: Cases and Materials
I pulled the book off the shelf with a snort, convinced this was some kind of joke. Sure enough, when I opened it to the first page I saw the copyright date was 2050. I was so amused I must have forgotten what brought me to the library in the first place, for I left straightaway, cradling the book in my arm.
It made for an interesting read, but I still believed it was some Harvard 1L’s idea of a prank. Yet as time went by, and more and more I saw in television and popular culture stories about a digital afterlife, the more I wondered. Could this really be legit?
I leave it for you to decide. What follows is an excerpt from the beginning of the book. Perhaps in time I’ll publish more.
