MoL-2025-05: Hornung, Lorenz (2025) Reasoning About Legal Concepts with Propositional Dependence Logic. [Report]
![[thumbnail of MoL-2025-05.text.pdf]](https://eprints.illc.uva.nl/style/images/fileicons/text.png) |
Text
MoL-2025-05.text.pdf - Published Version Download (776kB) |
Abstract
This thesis investigates reasoning about the applicability of legal concepts, a core element in the application of law, using a variant of propositional dependence logic. The contribution of this work is two-fold.
The first contribution is the development of a new framework. This framework is based on a team-based logic called propositional dependence logic with the might-operator PL(=(·), ♦). With this new framework, we demonstrate how PL(=(·), ♦) can be applied as a formal model of legal reasoning, thereby highlighting the utility of team-based logics in a domain to which they have not previously been applied.
The second contribution concerns the framework’s capabilities, addressing several tasks related to the applicability of legal concepts. The framework can (i) express legal information regarding the applicability of such concepts. It introduces a new mechanism capable of (ii) determining whether a concept is applicable to a case. This thesis examines this mechanism and explores how much information is needed to determine the applicability of a concept. Further, the framework enables (iii) reasoning about the stability of predictions. That is, it allows us to analyze whether acquiring more information about a case would lead to a different judgment regarding the applicability of the concept. Additionally, the framework provides the means to (iv) investigate which properties determine the applicability of a concept. Lastly, the framework is capable of (v) predicting the applicability of a concept to a sequence of cases.
| Item Type: | Report |
|---|---|
| Report Nr: | MoL-2025-05 |
| Series Name: | Master of Logic Thesis (MoL) Series |
| Year: | 2025 |
| Subjects: | Logic Mathematics |
| Depositing User: | Dr Marco Vervoort |
| Date Deposited: | 24 Jul 2025 15:12 |
| Last Modified: | 24 Jul 2025 15:12 |
| URI: | https://eprints.illc.uva.nl/id/eprint/2371 |
Actions (login required)
 |
View Item |
