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Can software legally enter into a contract on behalf of a natural/legal person?
by bumby 3y ago
Can software legally enter into a contract on behalf of a natural/legal person?
- bannee 3y ago[dead]
- vharuck 3y agoFor contracts and sales, I don't see much of a difference between a Chatbot and a simple HTML form. If a person who's able to form contacts on behalf of a company set it up, then it can offer valid contracts. If you don't want the tool to make contracts, don't use technology that can offer them or accept ones from users.
- red-iron-pine 3y agoif I can click "yes" on terms and agreements without any verification I am who I say I am... then possibly
- henry2023 3y agoOf course, anytime you pay send a wire from your e-banking, make a purchase online, subscribe to a streaming platform, etcetera. You and the counterparty are entering into a binding legal responsibility. Scenarios in which the two sides are software include trading algorithms.
- bumby 3y agoI think you're making a logical jump from a user-initiated contract to a software-as-a-legal-agent-initiated contract. Is there a legal basis for this point of view? To the point of another commenter, the means to enter a contract (pen/paper, by wire, etc.) shouldn't be conflated with the legal right. For example, IANAL but I have the understanding that the agents of a legal person (e.g., corporation) are specified in legal formation. The CEO, board-of-directors, etc. Is software formally assigned such a role to act on behalf of a legal person?
- kube-system 3y agoCan pen and paper legally enter into a contract? The answer is that the tools aren't part of the contract. People make contracts, the tools aren't (usually) relevant. In this case, I think this could potentially be missing a critical element of a valid contract "meeting of the minds"