ZARYS AUTONOMICZNEGO PRAWA INTERNETU
OUTLINE OF AUTONOMOUS LAW OF THE INTERNET

Summary/Abstract: Internet commerce continues to flourish despite lack of predictable international legal framework. On the other hand, the Internet community has developed a very original normative culture in the absence of globally binding laws. This article proposes the concept of autonomous Internet law based on the principles developed by the Internet community, including domain name arbitrage. Although the idea of autonomous cyberspace law is not new, so far no theory of sources was proposed. The present contribution offers such theory and briefly discusses its sources namely customary practices, arbitral awards, conventions, model laws and contracts as well as technical standards. The article argues that the norms originating from these sources could be utilised by judges and arbitrators in solving Internet-related disputes. The condition is, however, that these norms are customarily adhered to by the Internet community. In other words, the aforementioned sources should be regarded as the sources of inspiration or origin of customary autonomous Internet law rather than as sources of existing supranational law.

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