Avoid implementing the content of legal pages using CSS lists because they may be rendered incorrectly. Explicitly hardcode the numbers instead, to avoid legal risks.

Rene Yibowei

Cryptography

Community Picks is a section on daily.dev where our community members share the most interesting and valuable content they've discovered online. From insightful articles to handy tools, every post is a gem curated by our dedicated coomunity. To contribute to Community Picks, you need to have at least 250 reputation points, ensuring that only active and trusted members can share their finds.

Community Picks

Rendering legal documents using CSS counters can cause legal issues due to potential changes in the hierarchical numbering, which serve as unique identifiers. This can lead to documents being legally incorrect if referential integrity is broken. Using browser rendering engines introduces unpredictability, and human errors in numbering can invalidate the text. The recommended solution is to hardcode numbers in such documents for stability and correctness.

CSS Can Get You in Jail

Very interesting. Hard coding values are often underrated 😅

Finally my laziness pays off 👍

Lawtech CEO here. Some aspects:
<ol>
<li>
You won’t “get in jail” for issues like this, provided they’re not done with ill intent. Most jurisdictions ask before you get placed in jail as a preventive measure. That’s usually reserved for more serious crimes.
</li>
<li>
If you don’t go crazy with the design of your document, it won’t affect nothing. We generate PDFs using automatic filling of Word with Carbone. WE had documents slightly look different, but it has no legal effect. What is important is that the intent is kept the same.
</li>
</ol>
Numbering is mainly used for better navigation of the documents, and seldom has legal effect in itself. A judge would realize that if you mis-number, it’s a material error (no legal effect).
However, yes, what is on your site does have legal effect, any proposal, promise, etc on your site can serve as a pre-contract, as it explains benefits of the service. Unless you state otherwise, it’s binding in most jurisdictions, at least in civil law systems.
Disclaimer: I am not your lawyer, for legal advice please see a legal professional that is authorized to practice law in your area, as he will understand the nuance and specifics of your case better.

Wow, this is something I hadn’t considered, not being a legal expert in any way. Thanks for this heads up!

Let me guess, I just saved you from jail.