A legislator in California, Mike Gatto (pictured below), recently set up the world’s first Wiki-bill in order to enable private citizens to act as cyber-legislators and help draft an actual law. According to Assemblyman Gatto:

Government has a responsibility to listen to the people and to enable everyone to be an active part of the legislative process. That’s why I’ve created this space for you to draft real legislation. Just like a Wikipedia entry, you can see what the current draft is, and propose minor or major edits. The marketplace of ideas will decide the final draft. We’re starting with a limited topic: probate. Almost everyone will face the prospect of working through the details of a deceased loved one’s finances and estate at some point during their life. I want to hear your ideas for how to make this process less burdensome.

Is this cool, or what? Perhaps in the future, we could expand this idea to create a streamlined system of “wiki-cases” — or “WikiJustice, the free dispute resolution system” — to enable people to act as cyber-judges and cyber-jurors and decide legal cases and controversies more directly, quickly, and accurately than under the current cumbersome legal system.

Hat tip: Alfred Brody, via the Faculty Lounge.