When a software system says "this person must have their property foreclosed", it is following rules at several levels - electronics, code, business, legal. But ultimately, it is a human being that makes the choice to "apply" this "rule" i.e. to have consequences in the real world. The software itself cannot do that.

Thanks, that clears up which word we differ on: "apply".

With your usage, you are of course correct.

Given how often humans just do whatever they're told, I don't trust that this will prevent even a strict majority of possible bad real-world actions, but I would certainly agree that it will limit at least some of the bad real-world actions.