Legal Engineering A Design Perspective on the Law Prof. dr. Tom M. van Engers

Who am I…. In labour organizations, people solve problems, take decisions, learn, develop plans, have opinions etc. In all those processes knowledge is required. Knowledge Management aims at optimizing knowledge productivity.

Topics Normative systems The POWER-approach POWER support Support for policy making Support for operations POWER and eGovernment

Characteristics of the judicial Based upon a democratic process Aims at regulating society Results in regulations, legislation etc.

Legislation is the outcome of a group- dynamic process Contain norms that tell us what is obligated, prohibited or permitted Norms reflect underlying preferences Characteristics of the judicial

Legal engineering Legal sources (e.g. the law) can be seen as a specifications of a normative systems … but they are under- specified and suffer from anomalies: inconsistencies, circularities, open evaluative terms and vagueness.

Legal engineering and democracy Transparency is a key element in democracy. Publishing the law and court decisions is not enough. Citizens and parliamentarians require insight in the juridical interpretations and the governments’ policy. Formalize

Legal engineering Design perspective on the judicial

Design; many stakeholders and processes Legislation drafters Politicians Designers and implementers Civil servants Citizens and businesses Judges and lawyers …

Aims of public administrations Reduction of time-to-market Improvement of legal quality Improvement of law enforcement Administrative costs Accountability Client friendliness and operational efficiency Chain control

POWER Develop a method for the translation from rules and regulations into formal descriptions that a computer can reason with

Aims of the POWER-approach The logic that implicitly lies beneath the regulations becomes explicit Texts containing the regulations Analysis en modeling Description in formal logic

Power-applications Formal logical model

Concrete example

The operational results The formal logical model is the basis for different products: Formal logical model Educational material Forms Operational guidelines Automated (knowledge- based) systems

Organizational Positioning POWER Step 5: Incorporating in automated systems Legislation Applications Step 5: DSS Step 5: Incorporating in guidelines Step 5: Etc... Law enforcement POWER -Method Step 1: Generating formal descriptions Proposed legislation Step 3: Simulations Step 2: Anomaly checking Effects (micro/meso/ and macro) Suggestions Step 4: Suggestions for adaptation Formal descriptions Anomalies Policy process Implemen- tation Problem Generating alternative drafts Evaluating alternative drafts Choice Policy domain Step 5: Incorporating in guidelines

Governmental interests Checking the regulations –Feasibility study –Legal quality test Effects of regulations –Checking against the goals (simulation) –Administrative costs Operational support –Decision support –Client orientated services –Reduction of TTM & TCO

Design chain DraftingFormalizeImplementUse POWER-method Structure analysis Language analysis IntegrateSelect Generate FORCE + Valens Integration Wizard + MEGA Translator Text styler + MetaLex Workbench

Abstract overview of the method

Normative Systems Impact Analysis System Generation Process Representation Normative knowledge sources and policy Declarative ModelProcess model Knowledge Representation Knowledge based component

Back office Front office Regulations/ Business rules Processes and Systems Service s Social environme nt Back office Front office Regulations/ Business rules Processes and Systems Service s Social environme nt Back office Front office Regulations/ Business rules Processes and Systems Service s Social environme nt Client Level I Level II Level III E-Government

Legal sources Legal models componentsservicesportal presentatie data exchange presentatie data exchange A Generic E-gov architecture A generic E-gov Architecture Legal sources Legal models componentsservicesportal presentatie data exchange presentatie data exchange A Generic E-gov architecture

Summary of the POWER benefits Transparent translation of legal sources Unambiguous interpretation Consistency checking Better use of knowledge Chain approach: connecting different design processes Diminishing legal reparation Communication

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