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July 2nd, 2024

CSS Can Get You in Jail – Browser renderers, now deemed criminals

The blog post discusses the legal risks of using CSS for numbering in legal documents on websites. It advises hardcoding numbers for accuracy and legal compliance, prioritizing precision over aesthetics.

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CSS Can Get You in Jail – Browser renderers, now deemed criminals

In a blog post titled "CSS Can Get You in Jail," the author highlights the potential legal risks of using CSS to display legal documents on a web page. While front-end developers may be inclined to use CSS for formatting, relying on CSS for numbering in documents like Terms and Conditions can lead to serious issues. The unique identifiers provided by numbering are crucial for legal accuracy, and any discrepancies caused by CSS rendering can invalidate the document. The post warns against depending on browser rendering engines, citing past issues with browsers like Internet Explorer and Chromium. To ensure legal compliance, the author suggests hardcoding numbers in legal documents rather than using CSS for display. The ideal solution proposed involves providing lawyers with a rich text editor for content creation and rendering the document with hardcoded numbers for accuracy checks. Ultimately, the post emphasizes the importance of prioritizing legal accuracy over aesthetic presentation when dealing with legal documents on the web.

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Link Icon 5 comments
By @eesmith - 4 months
I would like to see a court case involving this, as it doesn't seem right.

Contracts aren't programming languages. Lawyers make mistakes. There's a process to handle this.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rectification_(law) tells me "Rectification is a remedy whereby a court orders a change in a written document to reflect what it ought to have said in the first place" as the term in English law, and says "In the United States, the remedy is commonly referred to as reformation."

https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=9c7749da-c692... gives an example for Australia: "A Court will correct missing words or incorrect clause numbers in a contract because these are obvious errors."

Furthermore, contract law is not criminal law.

By @error9348 - 4 months
> by using CSS for displaying the numbers, you put the validity of the documents in the hands of the rendering engine.

Any automation tool could result in a regression which may generate invalid numbering. At any rate, I doubt a court would ignore mens rea.

By @Onavo - 4 months
Sigh, just embed a PDF reader if it's that's important.
By @hdodov - 4 months
Hope I can help fellow web devs dodge a bullet… When you deal with legal documents, it's better to forget about HTML semantics and especially CSS styling. If you get too smart around ordered lists and they render incorrectly for some reason, you're on the hook!