Algorithm

What does Algorithm mean in American Law?

The definition of Algorithm in the law of the United States, as defined by the lexicographer Arthur Leff in his legal dictionary is:

A procedure for carrying out a complicated operation by carrying out a precise series of simpler steps. Thus “multiply 8 by 8 and then take that product and multiply it by 8” would be an algorithm for “get the cube of 8.” But it might also be noticed that “multiply 8 by 8” itself has an algorithm, viz., “add 8 to 8 to 8 to 8 to 8 to 8 to 8 to 8.” Similarly, the operation “decide this case of alleged breach of contract” might be said to have an algorithm of very roughly the form “Determine whether the defendant

made a promise for which there was consideration which he did not carry out for which failure he has no legally recognized excuse or defense.” And each of those steps might also have algorithms, e.g., “ask twelve randomly selected citizens to decide upon hearing and looking at the parties whether certain words were spoken or not,” etc.

It is frequently impossible to state a total algorithm for a very complex process, especially when neither the end nor the intermediate processes are thoroughly defined or understood, and thus much of law is at best imperfectly algorithmic, e.g., “Decide if X is lying” is really not reducible to a series of simple steps.

Algorithm in the National Security Context

A definition and brief description of Algorithm in relation to national security is as follows:A method for solving a mathematical problem by using a finite number of computations, usually involving repetition of certain operations or steps. Frequently used in computer science.

Meaning of Algorithm

In this law dictionary, the legal term algorithm is a kind of the Patents class.

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