Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Machine Medical Ethics pp 167–177Cite as

Machine Medical Ethics and Robot Law: Legal Necessity or Science Fiction?

  • Chapter
  • First Online:

Part of the book series: Intelligent Systems, Control and Automation: Science and Engineering ((ISCA,volume 74))

Abstract

The law is developed by human beings, for human beings, in legal terms, for “natural persons”. But during the development of the law in the long journey from the Roman legal system until our modern law system many things have changed. Natural persons are not the only players in the legal system of today. Large and smaller enterprises, organizations and state entities are performing all kinds of legal acts, as legal persons they can be held liable for the things they do. What about intelligence machines that can perform autonomous or semi-autonomous tasks? What about an advanced operating system where human control is hardly noticeable? What about drones operating independently? Are they liable for their acts and, most important, their mistakes? What about the laser cut that went wrong because of a disturbance in the internet that the surgeon did not control? Is the man behind the screen always the responsible party, even if he is not behind the screen? This article will discuss these ongoing questions.

I pity inanimate objects…

The frustrations of being inanimate

Maybe it’s better that way

the fewer the moving parts

the less there is to go wrong

Godley & Crème (Freeze frame).

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD   109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    In the U.S. there are differences. For instance, a person in Ohio, Nevada or Tennessee can become an adult after graduation from high school, whichever comes first.

  2. 2.

    Directive 2000/31/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2000 on certain legal aspects of information society services, in particular electronic commerce, in the Internal Market (‘Directive on Electronic Commerce’).

  3. 3.

    These obligations are integrated in Dutch law in article 3:15 Civil Code.

  4. 4.

    Although the weapon industry and cigarette industry are blamed for killing people, this is more based on the responsibility of the industry and the people who control the companies.

References

  1. Asimov I (2004) I-Robot. Bantam Books, New York

    Google Scholar 

  2. Bodin J (1955) Les Six Livres de La Republique (Trans: Tooley MJ). Blackwell, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  3. Boonk M (2013) Zeker over zoeken? Dissertation, University of Amsterdam

    Google Scholar 

  4. Catholic Church, Paul II PJ (1995) Catechism of the catholic church. Christus Rex et Redemptor Mundi

    Google Scholar 

  5. Dewey J (1926) The historic background of corporate legal personality. Yale Law J 35:655–673

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. E-commerce Directive (2000) http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32000L0031

  7. Geldart WM (1911) Legal Personality. Legal Quart Rev 27:90

    Google Scholar 

  8. Kaser M, Bernard F, Wubbe J (1971) Romeins Privaatrecht. Tjeenk Willink, Enschede

    Google Scholar 

  9. Mayer CJ (1989) Personalizing the impersonal: corporations and the bill of rights. Hastings Law J 41:577–677

    Google Scholar 

  10. Pagallo U (2013) Robots in the cloud with privacy: a new threat to data protection? Comput Law Secur Rev 29:501–508

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Pirenne J (1939) Histoire Des Instutions et Des Droit Privé de L’ancien Egypte. Édition de la Fondation Egyptologique Reine Elisabeth, Brussel II

    Google Scholar 

  12. Voulon M (2010) Automatisch contracteren. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Amsterdam

    Google Scholar 

Suggested Readings

  1. Bill of Rights of the Congress of the United States of America. http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/bill_of_rights_transcript.html

  2. Dutch Civil Code. (http://www.dutchcivillaw.com/civilcodebook01.htm)

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Law and Internet, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Rob van den Hoven van Genderen

Authors
  1. Rob van den Hoven van Genderen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rob van den Hoven van Genderen .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate Institute of Humanities in Medicine, Taipei Medical University, University of Tasmania, Dept of philosophy, Schl of Humanities, Taipei City, Taiwan

    Simon Peter van Rysewyk

  2. The Centre for Advanced Media Research, VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Matthijs Pontier

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

van den Hoven van Genderen, R. (2015). Machine Medical Ethics and Robot Law: Legal Necessity or Science Fiction?. In: van Rysewyk, S., Pontier, M. (eds) Machine Medical Ethics. Intelligent Systems, Control and Automation: Science and Engineering, vol 74. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08108-3_11

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08108-3_11

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-08107-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-08108-3

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation