1 Introduction
-
example definition: a concept is explained in terms of typical examples. This class of definition in particular invites reasoning by analogy. There is a sense of completeness, that the instances must belong either to the examples mentioned or something similar.
-
include/exclude definition: include/exclude definitions are often used to emphasise the inclusion or exclusion of certain items where this would otherwise be uncertain or even surprising. Include/exclude definitions are incomplete as there may (or may not) be other items that are included or excluded.
-
definition by reference: some legislation refer explicitly to other legislation for their definitions of certain concepts. These definitions then apply also to the referring legislation by virtue of the explicit reference i.e. the scope of a definition may be expanded to cover another legislation where there is explicit reference to the definition in that other legislation.
2 Related work
2.1 Domain-oriented legal ontologies
2.2 Remarks on automated approaches
3 Tools and methodology
-
Directive 2010/64/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 October 2010 on the right to interpretation and translation in criminal proceedings;
-
Directive 2012/13/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 May 2012 on the right to information in criminal proceedings;
-
Directive 2013/48/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 October 2013 on the right of access to a lawyer in criminal proceedings and in European arrest warrant proceedings, and on the right to have a third party informed upon deprivation of liberty and to communicate with third persons and with consular authorities while deprived of liberty;
-
Directive (EU) 2016/343 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 March 2016 on the strengthening of certain aspects of the presumption of innocence and of the right to be present at the trial in criminal proceedings;
-
Directive (EU) 2016/800 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2016 on procedural safeguards for children who are suspects or accused persons in criminal proceedings;
-
Directive (EU) 2016/1919 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 October 2016 on legal aid for suspects and accused persons in criminal proceedings and for requested persons in European arrest warrant proceedings.
3.1 Theoretical basis
-
A classical (or regular) definition17 is what we typically envisage when we consider definitions. They often have formulaic phrases to link the definiens with the definiendum, phrases in the form of “X means Y” or “X is understood to mean Y”. Di Caro (2020) found that classical definitions typically contain synonyms, hypernyms, meronyms and/or purpose-related information. For our purposes, what distinguishes classical definitions from the other definition types described here is that they have a sense of completeness. As an example, Article 1(1) of Directive 2010/64 states: “This Directive lays down rules concerning the right to interpretation and translation in criminal proceedings and proceedings for the execution of a European arrest warrant.” From this we obtain the following classical definition for Directive 2010/64: “EU legal act providing rules concerning the right to interpretation and translation in criminal proceedings and proceedings for the execution of a European arrest warrant.” In other words, classical definitions are marked by a higher degree of clarity, richness and readability (Di Caro 2020).
-
A part definition describes the components or elements of a concept where the meaning is best understood in the sum of its parts, such as a procedure or right. For example, in Article 4(2) of Directive 2012/13 below, we can consider each numbered item as an individual piece of the information required in a Letter of Rights:
-
"In addition to the information set out in Article 3, the Letter of Rights referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article shall contain information about the following rights as they apply under national law:Information about the components of the Letter of Rights are to be found in various normative provisions in Directive 2012/13, and linking all these components under the concept of the Letter of Rights can serve as a useful point of reference.(a)the right of access to the materials of the case;(b)the right to have consular authorities and one person informed;(c)the right of access to urgent medical assistance; and(d)the maximum number of hours or days suspects or accused persons may be deprived of liberty before being brought before a judicial authority.”
-
An essential part definition consists of components or elements of a concept that are crucial for that concept to exist. For example, in Recital 33 of Directive 2016/800, “[c]onfidentiality of communication between children and their lawyer is key to ensuring the effective exercise of the rights of the defence and is an essential part of the right to a fair trial.” The connecting keywords “is key to” and “is an essential part of” are suggestive of essential part definitions in this instance, but there are others.
-
A purpose definition seeks to explain a concept by its purpose. For example, in Article 7(4) of Directive 2012/13, there are two legitimate reasonss for refusing access to certain materials: “By way of derogation from paragraphs 2 and 3, provided that this does not prejudice the right to a fair trial, access to certain materials may be refused if such access may lead to a serious threat to the life or the fundamental rights of another person or if such refusal is strictly necessary to safeguard an important public interest, such as in cases where access could prejudice an ongoing investigation or seriously harm the national security of the Member State in which the criminal proceedings are instituted”. As such, we put as secondary concepts the following purposes: (1) to avoid prejudicing an ongoing investigation and (2) to avoid seriously harming the national security of the Member State in which the criminal proceedings are instituted.
-
A parameter definition contains one or more parameters that are taken into account in the application of a legal concept which helps to bring clearer understanding of that concept. Article 8(2) of Directive 2016/800 provides a good example of a parameter definition where we have a parameter that applies to multiple legal concepts: “The results of the medical examination shall be taken into account when determining the capacity of the child to be subject to questioning, other investigative or evidence-gathering acts, or any measures taken or envisaged against the child”.
-
A ratione temporis definition is constituted by the timeframe of the application of a legal concept such as a principle, right, obligation or even the whole directive. For example, Article 2(1) of Directive 2016/800 enshrines two ratione temporis definitions: “This Directive applies to children who are suspects or accused persons in criminal proceedings. It applies until the final determination of the question whether the suspect or accused person has committed a criminal offence, including, where applicable, sentencing and the resolution of any appeal”.
-
A ratione persone definition identifies the subjects of a legal concept such as a principle, right, obligation or even the whole directive. For instance, Article 2 of Directive 2016/343 enshrines that “This Directive applies to natural persons who are suspects or accused persons in criminal proceedings. It applies at all stages of the criminal proceedings, from the moment when a person is suspected or accused of having committed a criminal offence, or an alleged criminal offence, until the decision on the final determination of whether that person has committed the criminal offence concerned has become definitive”.
-
A typical example definition ( an example definition subclass) uses a typical example of a wider concept to define the latter. For instance, in Article 2(3) Directive 2010/64, “[t]he right to interpretation under paragraphs 1 and 2 includes appropriate assistance for persons with hearing or speech impediments.”
-
An atypical example definition ( an example definition subclass) is based on a specific example of a wider concept that is not commonly included in conceptions of the latter. For instance, in Article 1(2= of Directive 2010/64, conclusion of the proceedings “is understood to mean the final determination of the question whether they have committed the offence, including, where applicable, sentencing and the resolution of any appeal”. The legislature decided to clarify that the conclusion of the proceedings includes the resolution of any appeal, which is not commonly conceived of as a stage in the proceedings and therefore represents an atypical example. Note that the connecting keyword “include” can be indicative of a typical or atypical example definition, depending on the context.
-
An important example definition (an example definition subclass) like a typical example definition, uses an example of a wider concept to define the latter. However, in this case, while inviting wider analogy, it emphasises that at least the inclusion of this particular case must be respected. For instance in Recital 27 of Directive 2010/64, duty of care towards suspected or accused persons who are in a potentially weak position is emphasised “in particular” towards those who have “any physical impairments which affect their ability to communicate effectively”.
-
A parameter example definition is a sub-class of both example and parameter definitions. Just like a parameter definition, it uses examples of parameters to clarify a concept. However, like the various kinds of example definitions described here, the list of parameters is not exhaustive and therefore invites reasoning by analogy. This can be seen in the following example from Recital 4 of Directive 2013/48: “The extent of the mutual recognition is very much dependent on a number of parameters, which include mechanisms for safeguarding the rights of suspects or accused persons and common minimum standards necessary to facilitate the application of the principle of mutual recognition.”
-
A non-example definition (an example definition subclass) uses an example that is not commonly included in conceptions of a wider concept to provide a negative definition of the latter. For instance, Recital 13 of Directive 2013/48 excludes two specific proceedings from the wider concept of “criminal proceedings” and, in so doing, provides a clearer definition of that concept. The norm states that “proceedings in relation to minor offending which take place within a prison and proceedings in relation to offences committed in a military context which are dealt with by a commanding officer should not be considered to be criminal proceedings for the purposes of this Directive”.
-
A definition by reference represents the fact that not every piece of legislation contains a definition for every concept, and some legislation explicitly refer to other legislation for definitions of certain concepts. For example, Recital 49 of Directive 2016/343 states that “the Union may adopt measures in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 TEU [Treaty on the European Union]. In accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in that Article, this Directive does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve those objectives.” The definitions of the principle of subsidiarity and the principle of proportionality in the TEU apply explicitly to Directive 2016/343.
-
it is assumed that the scope of a definition is the legislative source itself, unless its scope has been explicitly restricted or expanded. In our work, restriction of scope is identified by phrases of type “for the purposes of paragraph X”, while expansion of scope is identified by an explicit reference to a definition from another piece of legislation;
-
it is assumed that definitions are specific to the jurisdiction of the legislation concerned. In the context of the EU, it is expected that transposition of legislation (and the concepts defined therein) may result in modified definitions of their concepts such that it is necessary to define relations between related concepts.
3.2 Ontological framework
Class | Description |
---|---|
Concept | the definiens |
LexicalEntry | the words or phrases used to represent the context |
LexicalSense | the lexical meaning of a LexicalEntry which, when linked to a Concept, implies that the LexicalEntry can be used to refer to that Concept |
SenseDefinition (renamed as ClassicalDefinition in our ontology) | the definiendum, along with the legal source of that definiendum |
Type of class | Class |
---|---|
Analogical | Part |
Analogical | EssentialPart |
Analogical | Purpose |
Analogical | Parameter |
Analogical | RationeTemporis |
Analogical | RationePersone |
Analogical | ParameterExample |
Analogical | TypicalExample |
Analogical | AtypicalExample |
Analogical | ImportantExample |
Analogical | NonExample |
“Is” relations | “Has” relations |
---|---|
IsPartOf | HasPart |
IsPurposeOf | HasPurpose |
IsParameterOf | HasParameter |
IsRationeTemporis | HasRationeTemporis |
RationePersone | HasRationePersone |
IsTypicalExampleOf | HasTypicalExample |
IsImportantExampleOf | HasImportantExample |
IsParameterExample | HasParameterExample |
IsNonExampleOf | HasNonExample |
IsEssentialPartOf | HasEssentialPart |
3.3 Data collection and analysis
Def. type | D.64 | D.13 | D.48 | D.343 | D.800 | D.1919 | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Classical | 3 | 7 | 19 | 8 | 15 | 4 | 56 |
By reference | 12 | 17 | 15 | 15 | 3 | 5 | 67 |
Typical ex. | 5 | 4 | 24 | 13 | 19 | 5 | 70 |
Atypical ex. | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 13 |
Import. ex. | 2 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 10 | 2 | 23 |
Non-example | 1 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 5 | 1 | 19 |
Part | 1 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 11 | 2 | 23 |
Essential part | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 10 |
Purpose | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 18 |
Rat. temp. | 1 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 13 |
Rat. pers. | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
Parameter | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
Parameter ex. | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
Total | 35 | 37 | 90 | 60 | 82 | 23 | 327 |
Directive | Total number of recitals per directive | Total number of articles per directive | Total word count of recitals per directive (English version) | Total word count of articles per directive (English version) |
---|---|---|---|---|
2010/64 | 36 | 12 | 2314 | 1525 |
2012/13 | 45 | 14 | 3118 | 1574 |
2013/48 | 59 | 18 | 6030 | 2721 |
2016/343 | 51 | 16 | 4193 | 1565 |
2016/800 | 71 | 27 | 6269 | 4683 |
2016/1919 | 33 | 14 | 2737 | 1515 |
4 Ontology creation
-
Owl:Thing has 4 direct subclasses: Concept, LexicalEntry, LexicalSense and SenseDefinition;
-
Concepts have one or more of the following AnnotationProperties:
-
rdfs:label: the most common term for this Concept represented with a plainLiteral string value;
-
skos:definition: a link to an instance of a SenseDefinition, which provides the definition, source and other relevant data;
-
isSenseOf: a link to one or more LexicalEntry instances, which provide the terms used to express the Concept;
-
jurisdiction: a link to a DBpedia entry which provides information about the jurisdiction;
-
reference: a link DBpedia entry;
-
closeMatch: a link to a similar concept in the Interactive Terminology for Europe (IATE) EU terminology database;
-
narrower: a link to an instance of a narrower Concept;
-
rdfs:comment: a plainLiteral value.
-
-
LexicalEntries have the following AnnotationProperties:
-
rdfs:label: a term used to express a Concept in a plainLiteral value;
-
denotes: a link to one or more Concept instances denoted by the term;
-
language: the language of the term, as a plainLiteral value;
-
sense: an owl:NamedIndividual of the LexicalSense class).
-
-
LexicalSenses have the following AnnotationProperty:
-
reference: to one or more instances of the Concept class.
-
-
SenseDefinitions have the following properties:
-
source: the name and URI of the glossary of terms that is the source of the definition;
-
value: the definition as a plainLiteral value, with that value having a “lang” property.
-
-
Concept
-
LexicalSense
-
LexicalEntry
-
Definition
-
ClassicalDefinition
-
* PartDefinition
-
* EssentialPartDefinition
-
* PurposeDefinition
-
* ParameterDefinition
-
* RationeTemporisDefinition
-
* RationePersoneDefinition
-
-
AnalogicalDefinition
-
* TypicalExampleDefinition
-
* AtypicalExampleDefinition
-
* ImportantExampleDefinition
-
* ParameterExampleDefinition
-
* NonExampleDefinition
-
-
In the ontology, the Concept “the right to interpretation” is linked to a TypicalExampleDefinition, which has a field for the definition itself, as well as a comment field to provide the original article for reference. There is another Concept for “appropriate assistance for persons with hearing or speech impediments” (Fig. 3).The right to interpretation under paragraphs 1 and 2 includes appropriate assistance for persons with hearing or speech impediments.
The duty of care towards suspected or accused persons who are in a potentially weak position, in particular because of any physical impairments which affect their ability to communicate effectively, underpins a fair administration of justice. The prosecution, law enforcement and judicial authorities should therefore ensure that such persons are able to exercise effectively the rights provided for in this Directive, for example by taking into account any potential vulnerability that affects their ability to follow the proceedings and to make themselves understood, and by taking appropriate steps to ensure those rights are guaranteed.