Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Ontologies in the Legal Domain

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Theory and Applications of Ontology: Philosophical Perspectives

Abstract

‘Legal ontology’ is the common denominator for a varying set of models focusing on legal domains, their ‘environments’, legal argumentation and other legal and legally relevant phenomena. Their nature and classification are explained in this article. The main classification is along the lines of semantic, epistemic and ontological claims in the ontologies.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Bix, B. 1991. H.L.A. Hart and the open texture of language. Law and Philosophy 10:51–72.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Breuker, J., and R. Winkels. 2003. Use and reuse of legal ontologies in knowledge engineering and information management. Proceedings of the ICAIL 2003 workshop on legal ontologies & web based legal information management, 1–35. Edinburgh, Scotland.

    Google Scholar 

  • Després, S., and S. Szulman. 2005. Merging of legal micro-ontologies from european directives. Proceedings of the LOAIT workshop. June 6, Bologna.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dini, L., D. Liebwald, L. Mommers, W. Peters, E. Schweighofer, and W. Voermans. 2005. Cross-lingual legal information retrieval using a WordNet architecture. Proceedings of ICAIL’05, 163–167, ACM, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fellbaum, C. ed. 1998. WordNet: An electronic lexical database. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frege, G. 1892. Über sinn und bedeutung. Zeitschrift für Philosophie und Philosophische Kritik 100: 25–50.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gangemi, A., M.T. Sagri, and D. Tiscornia. 2003. Jur-Wordnet, a source of metadata for content description in legal information. In Proceedings of the workshop on legal ontologies & web based legal information management, part of The international conference of artificial intelligence and law (ICAIL 2003), Edinburgh, June 24, 2003.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gruber, T.R. 1993. A Translation Approach to Portable Ontology Specifications. Knowledge Acquisition 5:199–220.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gruber, T.R. 1993. A Translation Approach to Portable Ontology Specifications. Knowledge Acquisition 5:199–220.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hage, J.C., R.E. Leenes, and A.R. Lodder. 1993. Hard cases: A procedural approach. Artificial Intelligence and Law 2(1):113–167.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hart, H.L.A. 1961. The concept of law. Oxford: Oxford University Press (ninth impression 1978).

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoorn, E. 2005. JurisPedia en de zichtbaarheid van de rechtswetenschap. In Nederlands Juristenblad, 4 November 2005.

    Google Scholar 

  • van Kralingen, R.W. 1995. Frame–based conceptual models of statute law. Leiden University, Ph.D. thesis.

    Google Scholar 

  • van Laarschot, R., W. van Steenbergen, H. Stuckenschmidt, A.R. Lodder, and F. van Harmelen. 2005. The legal concepts and the layman's terms. Proceedings of the 18th annual conference on legal knowledge and information systems. IOS Press, Brussels, December 8–10, 2005.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leenes, R.E. 1998. Hercules of karneades, hard cases in recht en rechtsinformatica. Dissertatie UT, Enschede: Twente University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Matthijssen, L.J. 1999. Interfacing between lawyers and computers: An architecture for knowledge-based interfaces to legal databases. Den Haag: Kluwer Law International.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCarty, L.T. 1989. A language for legal discourse, I. basic features. Proceedings of the second international conference on artificial intelligence and law, 180–189, Vancouver, BC.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mommers, L., A.H.J. Schmidt, and E.W. Oskamp. 1997. Controversies in the ontology and law debate. In Proceedings of the 1st international workshop on legal ontologies, eds. P. Visser, and R. Winkels, 1–5, Melbourne, Australia, July 4 1997.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moens, M.F., C. Uyttendaele, and J. Dumortier. 1997. Abstracting of legal cases: The SALOMON experience. Proceedings of the 6th international conference on artificial intelligence and law. 114–122, Melbourne, Australia.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moens, M.F. 2004. Innovative techniques for legal text retrieval. Artificial Intelligence and Law 9(1):29–57.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mommers, L. 2002. Applied legal epistemology: Building a knowledge-based ontology of law. Leiden University: Ph.D. thesis.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mommers, L. 2003. Application of a knowledge-based ontology of the legal domain in collaborative workspaces. In: Proceedings of the ninth international conference on artificial intelligence and law, 70–76. Edinburgh.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mommers, L. 2005. Promoting legitimacy: Feedback in dispute resolution. In: Artificial intelligence and law. Netherlands: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mommers, L., and W.J.M. Voermans. 2005. Using legal definitions to increase the accessibility of legal documents. In Legal knowledge and information systems. Jurix 2005: The 18th annual conference, eds. M.F. Moens, and P. Spyns, 147–156.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oskamp, E.W. 1998. Computerondersteuning bij straftoemeting. De ontwikkeling van een databank. Arnhem: Gouda Quint.

    Google Scholar 

  • Putnam, H. 1975. The meaning of ‘meaning’. In Language, mind, and knowledge, Minnesota studies in the philosophy of science, vol. VII, ed. K. Gunderson, 131–193. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stamper, R.K. 1991. The role of semantics in legal expert systems and legal reasoning. Ratio Juris 4(2):219–244.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Termorshuizen-Arts, M. 2003. Juridische Semantiek. Een bijdrage tot de methodologie van de rechtsvergelijking, de rechtsvinding en het juridisch vertalen. Nijmegen: Wolf Legal Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Valente, A., and J. Breuker. 1994. Ontologies: The missing link between legal theory and AI & law. In Legal Knowledge Based Systems Jurix 1994, eds. H. Prakken, A.J. Muntjewerff, and A. Soeteman. Lelystad: Vermande

    Google Scholar 

  • Valente, A. 1995. Legal knowledge engineering: A modelling approach. Amsterdam: IOS Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Visser, P.R.S. 1995. Knowledge specification for multiple legal tasks. A case study of the interaction problem in the legal domain. Ph.D. thesis, Leiden University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Visser, P.R.S., and R.G.F. Winkels. 1997. Proceedings of the first international workshop on legal ontologies,LEGONT ’97, July 4, 1997. University of Melbourne, Law School.

    Google Scholar 

  • Visser, P.R.S., and T.J.M. Bench-Capon. 1998. A comparison of four ontologies for the design of legal knowledge systems. AI & Law Journal 6(1):27–57.

    Google Scholar 

  • Verheij, H.B. and Hage J.C. 1997. States of Affairs, Events, and Rules: an Abstract Model of the Law. Oskamp, A, de Mulder, R.V., van Noortwijk, C., Grütters, CA.F.M., Ashly, K. and Gordon, T. 1997. Legal Knowledge Based Systems. Jurix: The Tenth Conference, Jurix: 3–19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Waismann, F. 1952. Verifiability. In Logic and language (first series), ed. A. Flew. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Winkels, R.G.F., Boer, A., Breuker, J.A. and Bosscher, D. 1998. Assessment Based Legal Information Serving and Co-operative Dialogue in CLIME. Proceedings of the eleventh Jurix conference on artificial intelligence and law.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wittgenstein, L. 1953. Philosophical investigations. Oxford: Blackwell, translated from Philosophische Untersuchungen by G.E.M. Anscombe.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Law in the Information Society, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands

    Laurens Mommers

Authors
  1. Laurens Mommers
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Laurens Mommers .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dipto. Sociologia e Ricerca Sociale, Universita di Trento, Via Verdi 26, Trento, 38100, Italy

    Roberto Poli

  2. Dept. Philosophy, University of Aarhus, Jens Chr. Skousvej 7, Aarhus C, 8000, Denmark

    Johanna Seibt

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2010 Springer Netherlands

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Mommers, L. (2010). Ontologies in the Legal Domain. In: Poli, R., Seibt, J. (eds) Theory and Applications of Ontology: Philosophical Perspectives. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-8845-1_12

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation