Carlo Biagioli

Automatic semantics extraction in law documents

Normative texts can be viewed as composed by formal partitions (articles, paragraphs, etc.) or by semantic units containing fragments of a regulation (provisions). Provisions can be described according to a metadata scheme which consists of provision types and their arguments. This semantic annotation of a normative text can make the retrieval of norms easier. The detection and description of the provisions according to the established metadata scheme is an analytic intellectual activity aiming at classifying portions of a normative text into provision types and to extract their arguments. Automatic facilities supporting this intellectual activity are desirable. Particularly, in this paper, two modules able to qualify fragments of a normative text in terms of provision types and to extract their arguments are presented.

Esplex: A rule and conceptual model for representing statutes

The characteristics of the ESPLEX system which may be defined as a “rule and conceptual based model” are illustrated, together with the possibilities for its utilization, its similarities with other existing projects, and the requisites of the knowledge representation language. The methodology and the theoretical propositions that have led to the definition of the representation language are therefore explained. The characteristics of the system which manages the knowledge base are also described and a brief comment is made regarding future development.

A legal drafting environment based on formal and semantic XML standards

The NIR project aims at making retrieval and navigation among normative documents in a distributed environment easier. To obtain this, XML and URN standards for normative documents have been established and the construction of tools working on these standards is promoted. Particularly, NIREditor, a specific drafting environment able to deal with new and legacy normative documents has been developed.

The LME project: legislative metadata based on semantic formal models

The Law Making Environment (LME) system for planning, drafting and managing legislative sources is made up of editing and search support tools. To handle the semantics of legislative sources, two interacting models have been created: a rule model, which can describe the illocutionary profile of legislative texts through metadata, and a lightweight ontology. The search support tool, LMEmetaSearch, based on both models, is able to search for rules in legislative sources, and additionally to find implicit or complementary rules providing the user with a wide account on the subject.

Automated Analysis of Legislation

This paper will illustrate the most recent developments in a research project which has been in progress over the last four years at the Istituto per la Documentazione giuridica of Florence of the Italian National Research Council. The research group, coordinated by Professor Martino, is made up of four legal researchers, three of whom also have training in linguistics and one in informatics, and by a mathematician.

XML documents within a legal domain: Standards and tools for the Italian legislative environment

The Norme in rete (NIR) [Legislation on the Net] national project aims at making easier the retrieval and the navigation between legal documents in a distributed environment and to encourage the development of systems with characteristics of interoperability and effective of use. In order to obtain this, two standards have been defined: a URN standard, to identify these materials through uniform names, and XML-DTDs to describe legislative documents within the NIR domain. In this paper the definition of such standards and the developments of tools aimed at making easier their adoption are illustrated. Particularly this paper presents a specific law drafting environment, NIREditor, able to produce legal documents and to handle legacy legislative documents according to the NIR standards.

Legislative meta-data based on semantic formal models

The Law Making Environment system for planning, drafting and managing legislative sources is made up of editing and search support tools. In order to handle the semantics of legislative sources, two interacting models have been developed: a rule model and a lightweight ontology. Semantic draft and search support tools are based on both models, in a way that makes their interaction possible. A rule theory has been developed, which can describe the illocutionary profile of legislative texts through metadata. As far as concepts are concerned, a conceptual dictionary has also been created. Through the search tool, called LMEmetaSearch, the user is enabled, for instance, to search for obligations related to particular actions or subjects, described in the query through the domain ontology. The LMEmetaSearch shows the related rules and additionally, if requested, finds implicit information providing the user with a wide account on the subject and playing to some extent the role of an advice system.