Lehrer on Jurists as Evolutionary Engineers: Artificial Selection in Legal Doctrine

Ignacio Adrian Lehrer has published Jurists as Evolutionary Engineers: Artificial Selection in Legal Doctrine.

This study analyzes how legal scholars, judges, and codifiers function as evolutionary engineers who practice artificial selection on legal doctrines, accelerating legal evolution through conscious intervention. Drawing on Darwin's observations of artificial selection and Harari's analysis of religious interpreters as normative engineers, we document systematic mechanisms by which legal professionals consciously select, cultivate, and eliminate doctrinal variants. The research reveals four primary mechanisms: academic cultivation through scholarly networks, judicial breeding of precedential lines, systematic codification, and institutional elimination of dysfunctional variants. Unlike natural legal evolution operating through unconscious social pressures over centuries, artificial selection achieves comparable changes within decades through directed intervention. Case studies demonstrate successful artificial selection including elimination of "separate but equal" doctrine, integration of common law and civil law principles in mixed jurisdictions, and development of European contract law. Failed attempts illuminate factors necessary for successful doctrinal engineering. This analysis provides theoretical foundation for understanding how legal systems achieve rapid adaptation while maintaining institutional continuity, with implications for legal education, judicial administration, and international harmonization efforts.

Download the article from SSRN at the link.