Great comment. I have run into this problem exactly in inherited codebases at my last couple of jobs:

> libraries that seem to be subconsciously written with the belief that returning an error is a failure on the part of the library and will go to what now seem to me to be absurd lengths to somehow keep klunking along in the presence of already-manifested failure.

It's a big problem with hairy repercussions if this idea is allowed to take root.