Civil Law and the Development of Software Engineering

ID
TR-96-16
Authors
Martina Shapiro
Publishing date
September 1996
Length
40 pages
Abstract
This paper provides software engineers with an understanding of the basic tenets of civil law and how legal liability principles may be applied by the courts so as to affect the future direction of software engineering. The issues discussed are based on a review of selected literature in software engineering, civil law reported case decisions and texts as well as on interviews with legal consultants. Examples of some court rulings in cases involving software malfunction are included, along with some projections relating to the possible implications for software development arising from the anticipated reaction of the courts to the novel issues presented by software engineering.