WE are presently living in a world where everything is progressing from traditional to modern, physical to digital, old ways to new methods. Thus, to keep up with all the changes and modernisations, it is necessary to transition to a cashless society and believe it or not, we are already on our way there. 

You might be wondering why do that when we’ve been using physical cash all this while? Well, there are numerous justifications of why society prefers cashless payment methods nowadays. The most significant of all, cashless payments are tremendously convenient. Customers can pay the exact amount in a matter of seconds, with just a simple scan of a card or a QR code. No exchange of cash is necessary at all. Moreover, after battling with the Covid-19 virus outbreak for so long, people are avoiding unnecessary physical contact especially with strangers.

There are of course drawbacks to it. Clearly, cashless societies are highly dependent on a piece of card or a smartphone. Therefore, in the absence of these devices, then they will be left completely helpless and stranded with no cash at hand. Furthermore, if society is going completely cashless, then the less tech-savvy among us will be in a quandary.

This is a matter to be viewed from the sociologist school of thought of jurisprudence, which approaches law from the society’s point of view and its diverse forms of social control. According to Emile Durkheim, one of the founders of sociology, man cannot live apart from society, for he is part and parcel of it. He regards society as a system whose existence is because of interdependence and bonding among individuals, or as he calls it – social solidarity. Thus, in relation to the need of a cashless society in this current time, it is irrelevant for the lawmakers to disregard the advancement of the financial system, as it evidently plays a vital role in the society’s day-to-day activity and will largely be incorporated into the world in the near future. As a matter of fact, according to the Visa Consumer Payments Study, more than seven in 10 Malaysians are supportive of shifting to a cashless society.

Furthermore, this particular school of thought ultimately and firmly deems law and society as interlinked because the law impacts the society as a whole. It is thus highly likely that the sociologist jurists are all on the same boat regarding our dire need of a fixed and efficient regulation on contactless payment methods for the benefit of the society. 

Montesquieu once said that law in general is human reason, in as much as it governs all the inhabitants of the earth. If we really think about it, it is spot-on that the society is constantly ever-changing. This thus means that the law needs to be adjusted and improved persistently to fit in the social changes, and in this current scenario of the world, we are currently gaining momentum in adopting contactless payment for convenience and safety concerns. 

Conclusively, it is relevant to say that to fit in the economic modernisation and financial developments, a cashless society is dreadfully needed to maintain the cohesion and coherence of the society at this point of time, in accordance with the sociological school of jurisprudence. As Roscoe Pound puts it, like engineers, lawmakers ought to deal with the law to accommodate current and future social needs to maintain harmony in society and the state. – November 28, 2021.

* Nur Aliya Natasha Mohd Nasir and Dr Nabeel Mahdi Althabhawi are in the Faculty of Law of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.