The Private Justice Gap - Devising a Legal Defence to the Harm of Judging

This book examines how private justice challenges the state's monopoly on adjudication, with a particular focus on today's digital contexts.
The author contends that private interventions can be legitimate expressions of justice rather than threats to it, and argues for a nuanced approach. This applies when such interventions respond to genuine injustices and meet the criteria of suitability, necessity, and proportionality while respecting fundamental ethical boundaries. By proposing a framework for private justice defence, the book explores how this stance could bridge the gap between public and private justice systems, fostering greater collaboration between citizens and the state. By acknowledging the role of private adjudication in rectifying injustices, the book advocates a legal landscape that empowers individuals to act in service of justice, while upholding core principles of fairness and cooperation.
The book will appeal to scholars of legal theory and law and technology.

List of contents

1. Introduction 2. An Eye for an Eye: Revenge, Justice and the Law 3. Procedural Justice and the Private Justice Gap 4. Architecture, Regulation and the 'Ethos' of the Internet 5. Digital Private Justice: A Hostile Takeover of the Justice-Making Process? 6. The Harm of Judging: Digital Private Justice and the Law 7. A Private Justice Defence 8. Conclusion

About the author

Célia Filipa Ferreira Matias is an assistant professor with the Department of Global Legal Studies of Faculty of Law, University of Macau, where she was previously a UM Macao Fellow. She holds a PhD from the University of Hong Kong (2021) and an LLM on Information Technology and Intellectual Property Law (2015) from the same institution. Her research interests lie in the intersection of law and technology, as well as legal theory and intellectual property.

Product details

• Authors: Célia Filipa Ferreira Matias
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Release: 31.03.2026
• EAN: 9781041140580
• ISBN: 978-1-041-14058-0
• No. of pages: 198
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Media, communication > Book trade, library system; PHILOSOPHY / General, LAW / Science & Technology, LAW / Jurisprudence, LAW / Computer & Internet, Crime and criminology, Crime & criminology, Information technology: general issues, Criminal justice law, Library & Information Sciences, Jurisprudence & Philosophy Of Law, Methods, theory and philosophy of law, Library and information sciences / Museology, Digital and Information technology: general topics