“Technology is reshaping decision-making, commerce, and governance at a pace that is forcing legal systems to confront new forms of opacity, power, and risk,” said Former CJI D.Y. Chandrachud, in his inaugural keynote address at the ETLegalWorld’s Global Legal Convention.
Framing the digital age as one defined by disruption across geopolitics, economics, and technology, Justice Chandrachud pointed that the law can no longer remain confined to resolving disputes after the fact, it must also understand and respond to the systems that produce them.
Drawing on examples from automated welfare fraud detection in the UK and facial recognition-led wrongful arrests in the US, he highlighted the paradox of modern digital life as he said that unprecedented data collection has not necessarily translated into greater transparency or fairness.
“The difficult task for law today is beyond resolving conflicts, towards understanding the systems that produce them,” he said, noting that decisions affecting individuals are increasingly shaped by invisible architectures of code, data, and automation rather than traditional public institutions alone.
He placed this challenge within a broader economic and institutional context, stressing that markets and innovation ultimately depend on trust. Referring to Adam Smith and historical examples such as the Amsterdam Exchange Bank, he argued that commerce flourishes not merely because goods or data move faster, but because institutions create the confidence that agreements will be honoured and rules will remain stable. “The rule of law stabilizes the expectations on which cooperation among strangers becomes possible,” he said, underlining that legal systems do not merely settle disputes but sustain the conditions under which economic activity can occur.
He also pointed to the growing fragility of modern digital economies, where cyberattacks, platform failures, and opaque algorithmic systems can trigger real-world disruption across financial systems, supply chains, and public services. In that setting, the responsibility of legal institutions is expanding.
“The rule of law therefore continues to perform its most enduring function of maintaining the institutional confidence that allows societies to embrace innovation without surrendering the stability on which collective progress depends,” he said, calling for stronger frameworks of accountability around technology, enterprise, and governance.
At the same time, Justice Chandrachud warned that disruption is not only a question of innovation but also of inequality. As technological change accelerates, he said, societies must confront the risks of redundancy, exclusion, and social imbalance, particularly for those already at the margins. “Those at the margins must never be left behind,” he observed, urging policymakers, businesses, and institutions to invest in resilience through re-skilling, retraining, education, and social safeguards.
Concluding on a forward-looking note, Justice Chandrachud said the future relationship between law, technology, and enterprise cannot be shaped by lawyers or technologists alone. It will require sustained dialogue among courts, regulators, businesses, and scholars to ensure that innovation remains grounded in fairness, accountability, and social purpose.
His address came during the third edition of ETLegalWorld’s Global Legal Convention 2026. The flagship event of the ETLegalWorld is undergoing at Four Seasons Hotel, Mumbai, bringing together India’s top legal minds for a deep dive into how digital technology is transforming the profession.
The two-day conference is set to conclude on March 14, 2026.
