Lars Lindahl

Normative positions within an algebraic approach to normative systems

The formal analysis of normative systems as initiated by Alchourron and Bulygin can be complemented by the analysis of normative positions as pursued by Kanger, Lindahl, Sergot and Jones. The paper ...

An Algebraic Analysis of Normative Systems

In the present paper we study how subsystems of a normative system can be combined and the role of such combinations for the understanding of hypothetical legal consequences. A combination of two subsystems is often accomplished by a normative correlation or an intermediate concept. To obtain a detailed analysis of such phenomena we use an algebraic framework. Normative systems are represented as algebraic structures over sets of conditions. This representation makes it possible to study normative systems using an extension of the theory of Boolean algebras, called the theory of Boolean quasi-orderings.

Intermediaries and intervenients in normative systems

Many concepts in legal texts are “intermediaries”, in the sense that they serve as links between statements of legal grounds, on one hand, and of legal consequences, on the other. In our paper, an ...

Short and Long-term Treatment Results in Chronic Maxillary Sinusitis

The diagnostic criteria and the length of the observation period are essential factors influencing the results of treatment of maxillary sinusitis. In 198 patients (244 sinuses) with chronic maxillary sinusitis of either rhinogenous or dental etiology all patients were judged as cured or improved at the short-term control 1-3 months after completion of therapy. The long-term observation (mean 3.5 years) revealed different figures of healing. Satisfactory results after conservative therapy were seen in only 34% while the Caldwell-Luc operation gave good results in 80%. In sinusitis of dental origin, dental treatment combined with local sinus surgery was successful in 90%. In 78 sinuses investigated by sinoscopy, discrepancy between the symptoms and the endoscopic findings was seen in 14 cases (18%). Information obtained by questionnaire is therefore unreliable. In 30 sinuses operated upon with the Caldwell-Luc procedure, discrepancy between radiographic and endoscopic findings was seen in 3 cases (10%). Contributory factors, e.g. nasal polyps, dental infections and nasal allergy were found in 48 out of 84 sinuses not completely healed at the long-term control. Patients treated for chronic maxillary sinusitis must be followed up over a long period. A clinical control after 1-2 years, including sinoscopy or sinus radiographs, is recommended even in patients free from symptoms of sinusitis. Sinoscopy seems to be more reliable than sinus radiography and should be performed if the sinus radiographs show any pathology. The patients are also recommended to visit their dentists regularly, due to the close relationship between dental infections and chronic maxillary sinus diseases.

Normative systems and their revision: an algebraic approach

The paper discusses normative systems and their revision within an algebraic framework. If a system is logically well-formed, certain norms, called connecting norms, determine the system as a whole. It is maintained that, if the system is well-formed, a relation “at least as low as” determines a lattice or quasi-lattice of its connecting norms. The ideas are presented mainly in the form of comments on a legal example concerning acquisition of movable property by extinction of another persons previous rights.

Intermediate concepts in normative systems

In legal theory, a well-known idea is that an intermediate concept like “ownership” joins a set of legal consequences to a set of legal grounds. In our paper, we attempt to make the idea of a joining between grounds and consequences more precise by using an algebraic representation of normative systems earlier developed by the authors. In the first main part, the idea of intermediate concepts is presented and earlier discussions of the subjects are outlined. Subsequently, in the second main part, we introduce a more rigorous framework and develop the formal theory. In the third part, the formal framework is applied to examples and some remarks on a methodology of intermediate concepts are given.

Stig kanger's theory of rights

Stig Kanger regarded his theory of rights as one of his substantial contributions to philosophy; he worked on it, intermittently, for nearly thirty years. A starting-point was Kanger’s interest in the classification of “fundamental jural relations” proposed by the American jurist W. N. Hohfeld, in the second decade of this century. Hohfeld’s theory concerns an area which is mainly legal, and it belongs to the tradition of jurists such as Jeremy Bentham and John Austin. Hohfeld distinguished the relations right, privilege, power, immunity, and their “correlatives” duty, no-right, liability, disability; one of Hohfeld’s tenets was that each of these relations is a relation between two parties with regard to an action by one of them.1

Stratification of normative systems with intermediaries

Abstract Writing a contract with a specific content is a ground for purchase, purchase is a ground for ownership, ownership is a ground for power to dispose. Also power to dispose is a consequence of ownership, ownership is a consequence of purchase, etc. The paper presents a continuation of the authorsʼ previous work on the algebraic representation of ground-consequence chains in normative systems. The paper analyzes different kinds of “implicative closeness” between grounds and consequences in chains of legal concepts, in particular combinations of “weakest ground”, “strongest consequence” and “minimal joining”. The idea of a conceptʼs being intermediate between concepts of two different sorts is captured by the technical notion of “intervenient”, defined in terms of weakest ground and strongest consequence. Lattice theory is used for studying the links between different strata and the structure of intervenient strata. We focus on (1) intervenient minimality, (2) conjunctions and disjunctions of intervenients, (3) organic wholes of intervenients, and (4) a typology of different kinds of intervenients. Also (5), we pay attention to the properties of intervenients in a network of “strata”. A legal example concerning grounds and consequences of “ownership” and “trust” is used to illustrate the application of the formal theory.

One-Agent Types

In this and the following two chapters a theory for what I call basic types of legal positions is presented. The theory contains a system of one-agent types, a system of individualistic two-agent types and a system of collectivistic two-agent types. I begin in this chapter with one-agent types.