The use of meta-rules in rule based legal computer systems

Rule-Based Systems in the legal domain are often obtained by formalizing legislation. We consider the addition of meta-knowledge in the form of meta-rules to such a system. Such an approach has many advantages both for control and for dealing with the intrinsic vagueness of legal rules. Legal computer systems of different kinds have been proposed and built over the years. In this paper we shall present a legal reasoning system which uses concepts discussed in this paper. The system consists of a knowledge base, obtained by formalizing legislation, and uses a meta-rules mechanism for deduction and legal reasoning.

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