Legislation, Electronic Commerce and the Common Law: the Growing Legislative Framework, How it Compares Internationally and its Failings in Australia

Abstract

In reflecting upon a dichotomy which pervades the ‘brave new world’1 of the Internet and electronic commerce conducted within the global communications network, the following report written in 1999 and taken from an English website provides a nice illustration: The Queen has opened the last session of the British Parliament this century … Seated on the Throne in the House of Lords, the Upper Chamber of the Westminster Parliament, the Queen unveiled the Government’s programme for the next 12 months. The audience of ermine-clad Lords was joined by members of the House of Commons, summoned to hear the Queen’s speech. She told Parliament that there are 28 planned pieces of legislation in the Government’s third Parliament session … [The Queen said]: ‘To prepare Britain as a dynamic, knowledge-based economy, my Government will introduce a Bill to promote electronic commerce and electronic government, improving our ability to compete in the digital marketplace’.2