The Theory of the Five Legal Worlds, with Ultimate Authority Grounded in the Real World: A Framework

In the field of technology law, previous research has predominantly addressed individual and fragmented issues such as smart contracts, data law, electronic contracts, and legal acts in the metaverse, without offering a comprehensive framework for the systematic analysis of their interrelations. “The Theory of the Five Legal Worlds, with Ultimate Authority Grounded in the Real World,” drawing upon this scholarly gap, seeks to develop an analytical structure for explaining legal relations and effects within a multi-world legal system. According to this theory, certain concepts, due to their distinctive legal characteristics, possess the capacity to evolve into “independent legal worlds”—worlds that not only govern legal acts within their own internal domains but also impose their features on inter-world relations when interacting with other legal worlds. These worlds do not operate horizontally or in parallel; rather, they form a vertical and intra-systemic structure. Accordingly, worlds such as the smart world and the metaverse may be situated respectively beneath the data world and the electronic world, while all are ultimately grounded in the world of reality as the foundational legal world where the ultimate source of legal validity resides. Using a descriptive–analytical method and relying on documentary research, the present study aims to provide a systematic framework for integrating legal rules and re-examining concepts such as intention, capacity, liability, and jurisdiction within the context of multiple legal worlds. Moreover, the proposed theory establishes a basis for comparative studies concerning the characteristics and conflicts of legal worlds and paves the way for detailed research across all legal domains from the perspective of the Theory of the Five Legal Worlds, with Ultimate Authority Grounded in the Real World framework. Keywords: Legal World of Reality; Legal Electronic World; Legal World of the Metaverse; Legal World of Data; Legal World of Smart Systems