Abstract
This paper describes a model of legal reasoning and a logic for reasoning with rules, principles and goals that is especially suited to this model of legal reasoning. The paper consists of three parts. The first part describes a model of legal reasoning based on a two-layered view of the law. The first layer consists of principles and goals that express fundamental ideas of a legal system. The second layer contains legal rules which in a sense summarise the outcome of the interaction of the principles and goals for a number of case types. Both principles, goals and rules can be used in legal arguments, but their logical roles are different. One characteristic of the model of legal reasoning described in the first part of the paper is that it takes these logical differences into account. Another characteristic is that it pays serious attention to the phenomena of reasoning about the validity and acceptance of rules, respectively principles and goals, and about the application of legal rules, and the implications of these arguments for the use of rules, principles and goals in deriving legal conclusions for concrete cases.
The second part of the paper first describes a logic (Reason-Based Logic) that is especially suited to deal with legal arguments as described in terms of the previously discussed model. The facilities of the logic are illustrated by means of examples that correspond to the several aspects of the model.
The third part of the paper deals with a number of logico-philosophical reflections on Reason-Based Logic. The occasion is also used to compare these presuppositions with theories of defeasible reasoning based on the comparison of arguments.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alexy, R. (1978). Theorie der juristischen Argumentation. Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt am Main.
Alexy, R. (1985). Theorie der Grundrechten, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, Baden-Baden.
Anscombe, G.E.M. (1957). Intentions, Blackwell, Oxford.
Ashley, K.D. (1991). Reasoning with cases and hypotheticals in HYPO. International Journal of Man-Machine Studies 34, 753–796.
Baker, G.P. (1977). Defeasibility and Meaning. P.M.S. Hacker and J. Raz (eds.) Law, Morality and Society. Clarendon Press, Oxford, pp. 26–57.
Chellas, B.F. (1980). Modal logic; an introduction. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge e.a.
Copi, I.M. (1978). Introduction to Logic. 5th ed. MacMillan Publishing Co., New York.
Dworkin, R. (1978). Taking Rights Seriously, 2nd ed., Duckworth, London.
Fuller, L.L. (1958). Positivism and Fidelity to law: A Reply to Professor Hart, Harvard Law Review 71, 630–672.
Gordon, Th. F. (1994): The Pleadings Game: An Exercise in Computational Dialectics, Artificial Intelligence and Law 2, 239–292.
Hage, J.C. (1991). Monological reason based reasoning. (J.A. Breuker, R.V. de Mulder and J.C. Hage eds.) Legal Knowledge Based Systems. Model-based reasoning, Koninklijke Vermande BV, Lelystad, pp. 77–91.
Hage, J.C. (1993). Monological Reason Based Logic. Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Law and Artificial Intelligence, ACM-press, Amsterdam, pp. 30–39.
Hage, J.C. (1995). Teleological reasoning in reason-based logic. Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Law, ACM, New York, pp. 11–20.
Hage, J.C. (Reasoning), Reasoning with rules, to be published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in the Law and Philosophy series.
Hage, J.C., R. Leenes, and A. Lodder (1994). Hard cases; a procedural approach. ArtificialIntelligence and Law 2, 113–167.
Hage, J.C. and H.B. Verheij (1995). Reason-Based Logic: a logic for reasoning with rules and reasons. Law, Computers and Artificial Intelligence 3, nrs. 2/3, 171–209.
Hare, R.M. (1952). The Language of Morals. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Hare, R.M. (1963). Freedom and Reason, Oxford University Press, Oxford e.a.
Hart, H.L.A. (1961). The Concept of Law. Clarendon Press, Oxford.
MacCormick, D.N. (1978). Legal Reasoning and Legal Theory, Clarendon Press, Oxford.
MacCormick, D.N. and O. Weinberger (1987), An Institutional Theory of Law, Reidel, Dordrecht etc.
MacCormick, D.N. and Summers, R.S. (1991). Interpreting statutes: a comparitive study, Darthmouth Publishing Company Limited, Hants and Brookfield.
Peczenik, A. (1989). On Law and Reason, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht e.a.
Pollock, J.L. (1987). Defeasible Reasoning. Cognitive Science 11, 481–518.
Prakken, H. (1993). Logical tools for modelling legal argument, Ph.D.-thesis Amsterdam.
Prakken, H. and G. Sartor (1995). On the relation between legal language and legal argument: assumptions, applicability and dynamic priorities, Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Law, ACM, New York, pp. 1–10.
Raz, J. (1975). Practical Reason and Norms, Hutchinson, London.
Raz, J. (1979). The Authority of Law; Essays on Law and Morality, Clarendon Press, Oxford.
Reiter, R. (1980). A logic for default reasoning. Artificial Intelligence 13, 81–132.
Sartor G. (1991). The Structure of Norm Conditions and Nonmonotonic Reasoning in Law, Proc. of the Third International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Law, ACM Press, p. 155–164.
Searle, J. (1983). Intentionality; An essay in the philosophy of mind, Cambridge University Press.
Searle, J. (1995). The construction of social reality. The Free Press, New York.
Soeteman, A. (1989). Logic in Law. Remarks on Logic and Rationality in Normative Reasoning, Especially in Law. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht e.a.
Soeteman, A. (1991). Hercules aan bet werk; over de rol van rechtsbeginselen in bet recht. Dolman e.a. (eds.) Rechtsbeginselen, Ars Aequi, Nijmegen, pp. 41–56.
Strawson, P. (1971). Logico Linguistic Papers, Methuen, London.
Tammelo, I. and Schreiner, H. (1977). Grundziige and Grundverfahren der Rechtslogik, Verlag Dokumentation Saur KG, München.
Toulmin, S.E. (1958). The Uses of Argument, Cambridge University Press, London, New York.
Valente, A. (1995). Legal Knowledge Engineering. A modelling approach. Thesis. IOS Press, Amsterdam.
Verheij, H.B. and J.C. Hage (1994). Reasoning by analogy; a formal reconstruction. H. Prakken, A.J. Muntjewerff and A. Soeteman (eds.), Legal knowledge based systems; the relation with legal theory, Koninklijke Vermande, Lelystad, pp. 65–78.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
The ideas developed in this paper are based on the draft of my book ‘Reasoning with rules’ which will be published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in the Law and Philosophy Series. The book offers not only more elaborate and sometimes different treatments of the topics of this paper, but also pays more attention to the philosophical background of this work.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hage, J. A theory of legal reasoning and a logic to match. Artif Intell Law 4, 199–273 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00118493
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00118493