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RE: Legal word definitions (was Ensure vs. Insure)
Subject:RE: Legal word definitions (was Ensure vs. Insure) From:Dannette Thompson <dthomps -at- foundationsoft -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Fri, 2 Feb 2001 14:38:57 -0500
Mark,
You're beginning to make my palms sweat. Here I was, worrying away about the
fact that Marketing keeps "insuring" that our software will do things. And
now you've got me all a-flutter over the legal ramifications of all kinds of
word choices!
I have absolutely no law background whatsoever, but I keep comforting myself
with the theory that should a user choose to sue, they'd have to prove
malicious/misleading intent. And that seems a long shot. But perhaps that
really is just a misguided attempt to help myself sleep at night. What do
you think?
At any rate, if you stumble across any general terminology information
similar to what you're seeking, please share it with the group! We all need
more things to worry about, don't we?
Dannette Thompson
Technical Writer
Foundation Software, Inc.
The #1 Accounting Software for Labor-Intensive Contractors
The opinions expressed in this message do not necessarily reflect the
opinions or policies of my employer or coworkers.
-----Original Message-----
Dannette's reference to legal ramifications brings me back to a question I
posed a few weeks ago.
I was, and I am still, looking for a guide to the legal definition of
certain words.
I am certain that there must be legally defined differences between words
such as 'maintain' and 'service', 'inspect and 'examine'.
A law book by Blacks' was suggested but the only one I could find was
"Blacks' Handbook of Business Law Terms".
This sounds like it may be the right sort of thing but I'm after something
more pertinent to engineering.
I contacted the British Standards Institute (BSI) but they only suggested
that I visit their library on the other side of the country.
The BSI manuals always seem to have a glossary of terms relevant to the
particular publication but, as you can imagine, this method isn't suitable
for the majority of documents.
What do the rest of you use to back up your instructions and procedures?
Does anyone ever bother or is it just me that can see the noose dangling?
Thanks in advance,
Mark Emson
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