Law, music and cinema not strangers to each other: Supreme Court Justice V Mohana at NUALS seminar

Supreme Court Justice V Mohana on Friday drew parallels between law, music and cinema observing that all three involve interpretation and making sense of human experiences within their respective frameworks.

Drawing a parallel between music and law, the judge said that while music has rules, rhythm structure and harmony which help an artist create music, so does law which has Constitution, legislation and procedure which provides a framework within which judges and lawyers work.

"Law is not entirely different, the Constitution, legislation and procedure give us our framework, they tell us where the boundaries are and so judges are constantly trying to do something quite delicate; to interpret law faithfully while recognising that the world in which the law operates is constantly changing. The answer to why art matters to law is rather simple. We spend a great deal of time in law dealing with categories, principles and procedures. But behind every case is a person, behind every legal dispute is a human experience," Justice Mohana said.

She was speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the 'Three-day Seminar on Music, Cinema and Law: Exploring the Intersections of Art, Culture and Law,' jointly organised by the Kerala Judicial Academy and the National University of Advanced Studies (NUALs) at Bolgatty in Kochi.

The seminar was inaugurated by Kerala Chief Minister VD Satheesan in the presence of Justice Mohana, Kerala High Court Chief Justice Soumen Sen, Justice Anil K Narendran, Minister of Higher Education Roji M John, other judges, lawyers, academics and members of the creative community.

The inaugural ceremony was preceded by 'Navarasa', a classical dance presentation by Kerala Kalamandalam.

At the outset, the Justice Mohana said that she had initially wondered what a judge could say about music and cinema, but as she thought more about the theme of the seminar, she found that the three seemingly different fields had much in common.

"The more I thought about law, music and cinema, more I realized that perhaps these three words are not strangers to each other. There is actually something very familiar about law, music and cinema," Justice Mohana stated.

She also spoke about the emergence and impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on artists and creative industry.

"Today, this relationship between art and law is becoming even more complicated. Your voice can be copied, your face can be recreated. Music can be generated by a machine, and actors can appear on screen without having performed a scene. Law is being asked questions that were the most unimaginable even a few years ago. Where does inspiration end and imitation begin? When does technology assist an artist, and when does it replace one?"

She said that answers to such fundamentally new questions concerning creativity, imitation and ownership cannot come from the legal fraternity alone.

Justice Mohana stressed that artists, musicians, filmmakers, technologists, historians and academics must come together to understand the challenges and find solutions to protect creativity while allowing innovation to progress.

Before concluding her speech, Justice Mohana urged the judges, lawyers, artists and academics participating in the seminar to use the event and understand perspectives beyond their own fields.

She said that they should not only speak about issues relating to law and art from their professional viewpoints but also listen to how other disciplines understand and approach the same challenges.

"I hope that when we leave from here, we will have understood not only what law can say to music and cinema, but also what music and cinema can teach law," she concluded.

Chief Minister VD Satheesan highlighted the growing challenges that new technologies pose to the rights of artist and creators.

Referring particularly to AI, Satheesan questioned how law would deal with creative works generated using such technology and added that the legal framework should evolve alongside the advancements in order to address the emerging challenges.

"We are all saying about law - that law is living law, law is changing time to time. I hope that after the introduction of this future technology, there should be many changes in the legal framework also. For example, this copyright, intellectual property right, the piracy thing, everything there should be a change," he said

Chief Justice Soumen Sen drew parallels between the role of a musician interpreting a composition and that of a judge interpreting a legal text.

"A musical score does not perform itself. The musician must remain faithful to the composition, but must also bring phrasing, emphasis, dynamism and sensitivity. A legal text presents a similar challenge. The judge is neither a mechanical reproducer of words nor an unfettered creator. Interpretation requires fidelity to the text, but also an understanding of context, structure and purpose," he said.

Justice Anil K Narendran also highlighted the impact of AI and stressed that it is necessary to examine whether the existing legal framework adequately protects creative works and artist rights, while ensuring that the technological progress does not hinder or exploit human creativity.

"We cannot and should not approach Artificial Intelligence as a threat or assume that it will not be a permitted development. The challenge before us is how the law can ensure that this progress does not come at the cost of human creativity," said Justice Narendran.

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