What is Ulex?

Ulex is an open source legal system. “Open source” refers to software that is freely available and may be redistributed and modified.

In the case of Ulex, the “software” is not necessarily code (although you can access Tom W Bell’s Ulex Gitrepository here), rather they are rules that a legal system can operate under. Because Ulex is open source, its foundation is not tied to any one country and can be used in different jurisdictions.

The goal of Ulex is to foster an open source community that creates and tries different variants of Ulex.

Why Do We Need Ulex?

If local governments are badly governed or unjust, users have the ability to use a different legal system!

Ulex protects human rights with an efficient and fair dispute resolution process, promoting the rule of law. It is not imposed by any one government, but instead is adopted by the mutual consent of those it governs.

Like choosing between Mac OS or Linux, citizens can now choose their legal system based on the quality of service they provide.

How Ulex Works

As an open source initiative, Ulex is intended to branch into many variants of the original. Like Linux, its founder created an initial kernel and made it available for others to build on.

Our kernel is Ulex v1.1. Read more about it here: Ulex v1.1 Documentation

Ulex v1.1 uses procedural rules (the process to make rulings) and substantive rules (how the facts in the case will be handled).

The default procedure for resolving disputes in Ulex v1.1 is comprised of three elements:

Judges: Each party selects a judge, who then collaborate to select a third. Remedies: The judges select a remedy proposed by one of the parties. Costs: The losing party pays the winning party's legal costs.

The default substantive rules of Ulex v1.1 come from the American Law Institute's Restatements of the Common Law, the Uniform Law Institute's Uniform Business Organizations Code, and other select rule sets. Each of these are standard best practices for international, private law.

Who founded Ulex?

Ulex as an idea has existed for thousands of years, mostly in the form of English Common Law. The technology for Ulex has only existed for a dozen years, however.

The founder of Ulex is Dr. Tom W. Bell of Chapman University Law School.

Many organizations came together to create the Ulex Open Source Community, including the Institute for Competitive Governance (where Dr. Bell serves as Academic Director) and the Startup Societies Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit group.

Portal Description

The Ulex Open Source Community Application was created to spur collaboration and build real world applications for the Ulex open source legal system. The community was initiated in April 2018 after Joseph McKinney won the Dragon’s Den Pitch Competition. He reinvested winnings from the competition to organize a crowdfunding campaign, financing the Ulex Open Source Application and bounties.

Use our forums to discuss important subjects, post projects to create tangible applications and host bounties to reward community members who further the mission of putting Ulex in the real world. Every collaboration should further the legal, technological, and community building objectives of Ulex.

The final goal of this group is to have experimental governance zones and/or businesses adopt the Ulex system, and establish a precedent for non-governmental legal systems that effectively dissuade and resolve disputes.