When courts are overgrown with grass: the role of courts in the 21st Century

What will be the social role of courts over the future? This essay explores this question by examining the "five dimensions" of judiciary-the judiciar y as a branch of government, subsystem of the legal system, as a forum for resolving dispute, as public agency, and an institution of a changing socie ty. It considers the duty of courts to safeguard the interests of future ge nerations; the place of courts during "the end of authority"; the increasin g use of artificial intelligence in formal adjudication, and concludes with a time when "the courts of justice are overgrown with grass". (C) 2000 Els evier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.