Legal certainty in cyberspace law

For centuries, law has been apprehended through the paradigm of State, its hierarchical organization and its territory. In recent years, this paradigm was revised by many towards a more pluralistic approach, taking account of a transfer to a network society where territoriality loses of its importance. In that context, cyberspace gives a fatal blow to the classical pyramid in order to guarantee its absolute dispersion. Cyberspace, due to its placeless character, is subject to a new form of regulation − a multi-regulation − putting in scene public and private actors and taking into account internet’s specificities (Title I). This study intends to show how this transfer is partly due to the fact that State law, even when completed by international law, is incapable to encounter on its own, a satisfactory degree of legal certainty in an environment such as internet. In that context and without completely disqualifying State law, I intend to show how positive law can only acquire legal certainty when completed by private regulation arising on the internet (Title III).  However, as a prerequisite, I will of course expose the basic principles of legal certainty (Title II).