Beyond Boxes and Arrows: Argumentation Support in Terms of the Knowledge Structure of a Legal Topic

Maaike Schweers & Bart Verheij

Today's argumentation software mostly emphasizes the logical structure of reasoning, and especially the structure as it can be represented in boxes-andarrows style diagrams. In this paper an alternative way of providing argumentation support is proposed. A content-oriented, relatively lowtech tool is presented, based on the knowledge structure of a legal topic, inspired by the structure of legal treatises. The design for this system builds on research in the areas of law, logic, argumentation theory and cognitive ergonomics. A small user evaluation has been performed to examine the usefulness of the system. We show that supporting legal reasoning based on the knowledge structure of a legal topic can be an interesting foundation for argumentation software.

Manuscript

Reference:
Schweers, M., & Verheij, B. (2007). Beyond Boxes and Arrows: Argumentation Support in Terms of the Knowledge Structure of a Legal Topic. Legal Knowledge and Information Systems. Jurix 2007: The Twentieth Annual Conference (eds. A.R. Lodder & L. Mommers), pp. 109-118. Amsterdam: IOS Press.


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