NewMINT interpretation assistance system: United States Constitution First Amendment's initial 1344 interpretations

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we describe and illustrate a new refinement in the MINT (Multiple INTerpretation) Assistance System that has Arrow Diagrams in the left margin of interpretations of legal text that indicates the sentential logical relationships of the constituent sentences of the interpretations. The new version is called NewMINT. An example of the use of NewMINT is presented in detail with respect to the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. For the seven ambiguities detected in the text of the one-sentence First Amendment, a total of 1344 different interpretations are constructed by NewMINT. By responding to seven questions about the ambiguities detected, readers can generate short-names for and full text of their own interpretations presented in Normalized Form in the language of LEGAL RELATIONS. An example of NewMINT output is presented by the complete Arrow Diagram and structured interpretation of retired Judge William A. Norris of the Ninth Circuit.

REFERENCES

• 1: Hohfeld, Wesley N. {1913} "Fundamental Legal Conceptions as Applied in Judicial Reasoning,"23 YALE L. J. 16 (1913). Reprinted with a New Foreword by Arthur L. Corbin by Yale University Press, London & New Haven (1964).
• 2: Allen, Layman E., Symbolic Logic: A Razor Edged Tool for Drafting and Interpreting Legal Documents, 66 Yale Law Journal 833 (1957).
• 3: Layman E. Allen , Charles S. Saxon, More IA needed in AI: interpretation assistance for coping with the problem of multiple structural interpretations, Proceedings of the 3rd international conference on Artificial intelligence and law, p.53-61, May 1991, Oxford, England [doi>10.1145/112646.112652]
• 4: Allen, Layman E., Some Examples of Using the LEGAL RELATIONS Language in the Legal Domain: Applied Deontic Logic, 73 NOTRE DAME L. REV. 535--573 (1998).
• 5: Allen, Layman E., The Legal Argument Game of LEGAL RELATIONS (designed to facilitate becoming fluent In the LEGAL RELATIONS Language, with Sandra Bartlett, 2003).

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  I. Computing Methodologies
  I.2 ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
      I.2.1 Applications and Expert Systems

Additional Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.4 INFORMATION SYSTEMS APPLICATIONS
      H.4.2 Types of Systems
          Subjects: Decision support (e.g., MIS)

  I. Computing Methodologies
  I.2 ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
      I.2.4 Knowledge Representation Formalisms and Methods

General Terms:
Algorithms, Legal Aspects, Management, Theory

Keywords:
NewMINT, ambiguity detection, generative expert system, legal relations language, multiple-interpretion assistance, normalized form