Agency, Contract and Intelligent Software Agents

As e-commerce and electronic contracting continue to grow in importance and use, so also will the use of intelligent software agents. As countries develop their own national laws to reflect this growth in e-commerce they will also have to consider how such agent software is dealt with. This article considers whether from the perspective of Scots law intelligent software agents are in fact legally agents and what their role and impact is in a legal and contractual sense. The article also considers whether Scots law needs to develop to deal with existing practice in the use of intelligent agents and, if change is necessary, what influence may be taken from approaches in other jurisdictions.