This is an encoding in s(CASP) of rule 34 of Singapore's Legal Profession (Professional Conduct) Rules 2015. The source material is available here.
In order to run this software you need to install the ciao programming langauge, and then install s(CASP).
Instructions are available here.
We encoded rule 34 as faithfully as we could, then generated a set of 25 tests for that encoding.
We discovered a number of tests that were not behaving as anticipated, and tracked the problem down rule 34(1)(b), which uses the word "business" in a way inconsistent with how that term is defined in the rules. The relevant section reads:
RULE 34(1)
34.—(1) A legal practitioner must not accept any executive appointment associated with
any of the following businesses:
...
(b) any business which materially interferes with —
(i) the legal practitioner’s primary occupation of practising as a lawyer;
(ii) the legal practitioner’s availability to those who may seek the legal practitioner’s
services as a lawyer; or
(iii) the representation of the legal practitioner’s clients;
The word "business" is defined later in the rule to mean a category of undertaking, which is a thing that cannot meaningfully "materially interfere" with a specific legal practitioner in any way. We can encode the idea that "widget sales" interferes with someone's availability, but that doesn't mean anything.
We therefore proposed and encoded an amendment to the rule. The proposed amendment is that rule 34(1)(b) be removed from rule 34(1) and renumbered rule 34(1A), and read as follows:
1A: A legal practitioner must not accept any executive appointment that:
materially interferes with —
(i) the legal practitioner’s primary occupation of practising as a lawyer;
(ii) the legal practitioner’s availability to those who may seek the legal practitioner’s
services as a lawyer; or
(iii) the representation of the legal practitioner’s clients.
Using this repository, you can run the tests against the original and amended law.
- r34.pl: Our "faithful" encoding of what the legislation says.
- r34_amended.pl: Our proposed amendment to the section.
./run_tests.sh r34.pl
./run_tests.sh r34_amended.pl
| File | Passed | Failed | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| r34.pl | 21 | 4 | 25 |
| r34_amended.pl | 25 | 0 | 25 |
To run a test directly, using the following command:
scasp --human --tree tests/test1.pl r34.pl
replacing the filename for the specific test and the version of the rule as appropriate.
The above query will return the following:
QUERY:I would like to know if
in accordance with r34_1, jason is prohibited from accepting ceo_megaCorp.
ANSWER: 1 (in 12.639 ms)
JUSTIFICATION_TREE:
in accordance with r34_1, jason is prohibited from accepting ceo_megaCorp, because
jason is a legal practitioner, and
ceo_megaCorp is associated with predatory_lending, because
it is assumed that ceo_megaCorp is associated with predatory_lending, and
'abducible' holds (for associated_with(ceo_megaCorp,predatory_lending)), because
'abducible' holds (for associated_with(ceo_megaCorp,predatory_lending)).
predatory_lending is a business for the purposes of section 34, and
according to r34_1_a, predatory_lending is described in section 1, because
predatory_lending is incompatible with the dignity of the legal profession, and
predatory_lending is a business for the purposes of section 34, justified above.
ceo_megaCorp is an executive appointment for the purposes of section 34, because
ceo_megaCorp is an executive appointment associated with the business predatory_lending, because
ceo_megaCorp is a position, and
ceo_megaCorp entitles the holder to perform executive functions, and
ceo_megaCorp is associated with predatory_lending, because
it is assumed that ceo_megaCorp is associated with predatory_lending, and
'abducible' holds (for associated_with(ceo_megaCorp,predatory_lending)), because
'abducible' holds (for associated_with(ceo_megaCorp,predatory_lending)).
predatory_lending is a business for the purposes of section 34, and
there is no evidence that ceo_megaCorp is a non-executive directorship, and
there is no evidence that ceo_megaCorp is an independent directorship.
The global constraints hold.
MODEL:
{ according_to(r34_1,must_not(jason,accept,ceo_megaCorp)), legal_practitioner(jason), associated_with(ceo_megaCorp,predatory_lending), business(predatory_lending), according_to(r34_1_a,described_in_s1(predatory_lending)), incompatible_dignity_of_legal_profession(predatory_lending), executive_appointment(ceo_megaCorp), executive_appointment_associated_with_a_business(ceo_megaCorp,predatory_lending), position(ceo_megaCorp), entitles_holder(ceo_megaCorp) }
BINDINGS: ?
Since the original version of this repository, the following changes have been made:
- The code has been rewritten to work with the most recent version of s(CASP)
- The code has been rewritten to use a more advanced form of defeasibility
- Various bugs have been corrected.