Engineer B Client Instruction Limits
O · Obligation
Individual
http://proethica.org/ontology/case/15#Engineer_B_Client_Instruction_Limits
Definition
Engineer B was obligated to decline the Owner's instruction to conduct a covert review, recognizing that the duty of loyalty to the Owner did not extend to complying with a directive that required violating professional ethics obligations toward Engineer A.
Properties
Instance of
ClientInstructionLimitsObligation
http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#ClientInstructionLimitsObligation
Case context
Owner as client instructed Engineer B to perform a peer review covertly, which would have required Engineer B to act against professional transparency and collegial norms.
Compliance status
met
Confidence
0.87
Obligation statement
Engineer B was obligated to decline the Owner's instruction to conduct a covert review, recognizing that the duty of loyalty to the Owner did not extend to complying with a directive that required violating professional ethics obligations toward Engineer A.
Temporal scope
Upon receipt of the Owner's instruction to conduct a covert review
Match Confidence
0.76
Match Reasoning
Via class 'Client Instruction Limits Obligation': This obligation is the defeasible counterpart to the Faithful Agent Obligation. The existing Faithful Agent Obligation is explicitly noted as defeasible under states that confirm public-safety risk or ethics violations, and this class captures the duty that defeats it when client instructions cross ethical lines. Medium confidence because the existing class addresses the same role-relationship from the complementary direction.
Matched Ontology Label
Faithful Agent Obligation
Matches Existing
true
Synthesis Literal
caseContext
complianceStatus
confidence
obligationClass
obligationStatement
temporalScope
textReferences
Relationships
competesWith
Engineer B Covert Review Refusal
defeasibleUnder
Engineer B Covert Review Instruction
obligatedParty
Agent Engineer B
derivedFromPrinciple
Owner Client Loyalty Limits Engineer B
Source Evidence
Text references
Engineer B objects to conducting the peer review without advising Engineer A.
Owner instructs Engineer B to conduct the peer review without letting Engineer A know.
Source text
Owner instructs Engineer B to conduct the peer review without letting Engineer A know.
TTL
@prefix case15: <http://proethica.org/ontology/case/15#> .
@prefix owl: <http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#> .
@prefix proeth: <http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#> .
@prefix proeth-core: <http://proethica.org/ontology/core#> .
@prefix proeth-prov: <http://proethica.org/provenance#> .
@prefix prov: <http://www.w3.org/ns/prov#> .
@prefix rdfs: <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#> .
@prefix skos: <http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#> .
@prefix xsd: <http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#> .
case15:Engineer_B_Client_Instruction_Limits a proeth:ClientInstructionLimitsObligation,
owl:NamedIndividual ;
rdfs:label "Engineer B Client Instruction Limits" ;
proeth-core:competesWith case15:Engineer_B_Covert_Review_Refusal ;
proeth-core:defeasibleUnder case15:Engineer_B_Covert_Review_Instruction ;
proeth-core:obligatedParty case15:Agent_Engineer_B ;
proeth:caseContext "Owner as client instructed Engineer B to perform a peer review covertly, which would have required Engineer B to act against professional transparency and collegial norms." ;
proeth:complianceStatus "met" ;
proeth:conceptCategory "Obligation" ;
proeth:confidence "0.87" ;
proeth:derivedFromPrinciple case15:Owner_Client_Loyalty_Limits_Engineer_B ;
proeth:obligatedParty "Engineer B" ;
proeth:obligationClass "Client Instruction Limits Obligation" ;
proeth:obligationStatement "Engineer B was obligated to decline the Owner's instruction to conduct a covert review, recognizing that the duty of loyalty to the Owner did not extend to complying with a directive that required violating professional ethics obligations toward Engineer A." ;
proeth:temporalScope "Upon receipt of the Owner's instruction to conduct a covert review" ;
proeth:textReferences "Engineer B objects to conducting the peer review without advising Engineer A.",
"Owner instructs Engineer B to conduct the peer review without letting Engineer A know." ;
proeth-prov:discoveredInCase 15 ;
proeth-prov:discoveredInPass 2 ;
proeth-prov:discoveredInSection "facts" ;
proeth-prov:firstDiscoveredAt "2026-06-02T19:56:24.847658+00:00"^^xsd:dateTime ;
proeth-prov:firstDiscoveredInCase 15 ;
proeth-prov:matchConfidence 0.76 ;
proeth-prov:matchReasoning "Via class 'Client Instruction Limits Obligation': This obligation is the defeasible counterpart to the Faithful Agent Obligation. The existing Faithful Agent Obligation is explicitly noted as defeasible under states that confirm public-safety risk or ethics violations, and this class captures the duty that defeats it when client instructions cross ethical lines. Medium confidence because the existing class addresses the same role-relationship from the complementary direction." ;
proeth-prov:matchedOntologyClass proeth:FaithfulAgentObligation ;
proeth-prov:matchedOntologyLabel "Faithful Agent Obligation" ;
proeth-prov:matchesExisting true ;
proeth-prov:sourceText "Owner instructs Engineer B to conduct the peer review without letting Engineer A know." ;
proeth-prov:synthesisLiteral "caseContext",
"complianceStatus",
"confidence",
"obligationClass",
"obligationStatement",
"temporalScope",
"textReferences" ;
rdfs:comment "Engineer B was obligated to decline the Owner's instruction to conduct a covert review, recognizing that the duty of loyalty to the Owner did not extend to complying with a directive that required violating professional ethics obligations toward Engineer A." ;
skos:definition "Engineer B was obligated to decline the Owner's instruction to conduct a covert review, recognizing that the duty of loyalty to the Owner did not extend to complying with a directive that required violating professional ethics obligations toward Engineer A." ;
prov:generatedAtTime "2026-06-02T19:56:24.847658+00:00"^^xsd:dateTime ;
prov:wasAttributedTo "Case 15 Extraction",
"claude-sonnet-4-6" ;
prov:wasGeneratedBy "ProEthica Case 15 Extraction" .
Metadata
Extraction details
Discovered in case
15
Discovered in pass
2
Discovered in section
facts
First discovered
2026-06-02T19:56:24.847658+00:00
First case
15
Generated
2026-06-02T19:56:24.847658+00:00
Attributed to
['Case 15 Extraction', 'claude-sonnet-4-6']
Generated by
ProEthica Case 15 Extraction