Tech Reports

ULCS-03-013

Developing Legal Knowledge Based Systems Through Theory Construction

Alison Chorley and Trevor Bench-Capon

Abstract

Bench-Capon and Sartor have proposed that reasoning with legal cases be seen as a process of theory construction, evaluation and application. They have proposed a set of theory constructors to specify the process of theory construction. In this paper we describe an implementation of these constructors as part of a system intended to support the development of a legal Knowledge Based System (LKBS) from a set of cases. The constructors provide a means of building a theory from a background analysis. Once a theory has been constructed, the system generates Prolog code conforming to the theory, including the priorities demanded by the theory. This code can then be incorporated into a shell to provide a simple LKBS, which can be used for testing and evaluation, or upgraded into a usable application. The process is illustrated by showing how the tool could be used to develop a LKBS for US Trade Secret Law, drawing on the analysis used in Aleven's CATO system. This case study raises a number of issues which merit discussion and further exploration.

For each technical report listed here, copyright and all intellectual property rights remain with the respective authors. Copyright is effective from the year of publication in each case. By downloading a file from this page, you agree to use it only for purposes of research and scholarship. Any other use of this material or storage of it in any medium or its sale or distribution in any form is expressly forbidden without prior written permission from the authors concerned.