Equal before the law? A socio-legal inquiry into power, algorithms, and inequality

Cowan, Dave ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9750-8262 and Wheeler, Sally 2025. Equal before the law? A socio-legal inquiry into power, algorithms, and inequality. Michie, Jonathan and Cooper, Cary L., eds. Why the Social Sciences Matter: More Than Ever, Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 199-218. (10.1007/978-3-032-02147-2_11)

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Abstract

This chapter starts with the widely accepted idea that one of the key principles of the rule of law is equality before the law. We draw on socio-legal research to demonstrate how already disadvantaged citizens are commonly disproportionately affected by the application of apparently neutral rules. We then draw on our own research into two rather different enforcement regimes—against landlords, on the one hand, and company directors, on the other—to demonstrate how the enforcement of such laws can become skewed according to wealth and power. These are traditional socio-legal issues to which the company director scheme adds by demonstrating that, even around algorithmic regulation, discretionary spaces open up.

Item Type:	Book Section
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Schools > Cardiff Law & Politics Research Institutes & Centres > Cardiff Centre of Law and Society (CCLS)
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan
ISBN:	9783032021465
Last Modified:	03 Nov 2025 17:00
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/182025

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