On 21 September 2022, the first lecture of the Frontiers of Law Series was held in Room 208, East Hall of KoGuan School of Law, Professor Weidong Ji gave an in-depth lecture entitled "Perspective on the Three Elements of Law: Relations, Procedure and Discussion".

In the lecture, Prof. Weidong Ji discussed three aspects: relations in the sociology of law, the influence of relations on procedural justice and the communication network in the context of procedures.

For these three main issues, Prof. Weidong Ji concluded that:

First, from the comprehensive analytical framework of relations, procedure and discussion, the social perspective of law study is basically the relation perspective. Relations mean the communication among people. A pluralistically constituted legal system especially needs to enhance communication, and communication requires the use of impartial procedures to set the field of rational dialogue and the relevant rules. In the era of digitalization, both relation network and communication network can be measured and calculated with the help of mathematical methods.

Secondly, relations can lead to the informalization and diversification of procedures, discussion can promote the reflection and democratization of law, and procedural justice has independent value for different types of relations and communication processes. Hence, the legal system in the relation perspective should balance procedural rationality and communication rationality.

Finally, the goal of interconnecting relations, procedure and discussion is to form social consensus and achieve social integration. Embedding procedures into interactive relations and embedding discussions into substantive laws are the basic direction of the institutional change in China since the twentieth century, and will have a profound significance in the digital era.

At the end of the lecture, Prof. Weidong Ji also set aside some time to answer questions from the audience.