The Core Legal Ontology. It has been aligned to DOLCE-Ultralite. OWL version by Aldo Gangemi, joint work with ITTIG-CNR.
7.1 improves on the cognitive aspects of legal facts.
7.2 fixes some dead ends in obsolete imports, as well as the compatibility of clo:LegalSubject with dul:Person
7.3 simplifies some restrictions; also required a fix on DOLCE-Ultralite
7.4 removed some classes that are no more in imported ontologies and were wrongly included here; cleaned the code overall
7.5 fixed ontology IRI and other namespace issues
7.5
has obligation towards
is obligation target of
has disability towards
has duty towards
has immunity towards
has legal attitude towards
has liability towards
has non right towards
has power towards
has privilege towards
has right towards
is disability target of
is duty target of
is immunity target of
is legal attitude target of
is liability target of
is non-right target of
is power target of
is privilege target of
is right target of
A Role that classifies an Agent
Agent role
Ruolo di agenti
Aggravating circumstances are situations (e.g. being an institutional representative, or being linked by a parenthood relation to the victim, etc.) that are considered in the context of a crime situation.
Aggravating circumstance
Circostanza aggravante
For the sake of a legal ontology, a cognitive event is any Event assumed to be entirely participated in by a NaturalPerson, and producing some mental content (Description, Concept, etc.) expressed by an InformationObject; a cognitive event should then be 'reportable' to the others.
Cognitive event
Evento cognitivo
Evidenced consciousness (of sth) is a legal cognitive fact, which can be either assumed, expressed, or hinted by some cognitively-related event.
Consciousness evidence
Prova di consapevolezza
Constitutive Norms introduce new entities in the ground ontology, while Regulative Norms provide constraints on existing ground entities. In particular, Constitutive Norms define (in the D&S sense) e.g. Legally-constructed Institutions, Legal Functions and Legal Powers. Definition and power-conferring rules are sub-classes of constitutive norms.
Constitutive norm
Norma costitutiva
Crimes are situations that satisfy incriminating norms. Incriminating norms define or use at least one course (the commitment to a sanctioning action) related to some action that is forbidden or illegal to some legal role or agent. Aggravating or extenuating circumstances are situations (e.g. being an institutional representative, or being linked by a parenthood relation to the victim, etc.) that are proper parts of a crime situation.
Crime
Reato
Extenuating circumstances are situations (e.g. being mentally handicapped, etc.) that are considered in the context of a crime situation.
Circostanza attenuante
Extenuating circumstance
AKA 'suitas' in Roman Law. It grounds the distinction between fault and intentional fraud e.g. in Italian Crime Law.
Free will can be either assumed or hinted by some cognitively-related events.
It is not a kind of (evidenced) will, since being in a free will position does not imply having a will to do something (but only being in a position that permits to have a will).
Free will
Libera volontà
Human Facts depend on conscious intentional human actions. Human facts include: i) Institutional Facts, which are the legal counterpart of natural phenomena, being directly created by the application of constitutive norms, ii) Legal Acts, which depend on the will of some legal agent, iii) Legal Transactions, which depend on the intentionality of some legal agent.
Fatto legale umano
Human legal fact
Incriminating norms define or use at least one task (the commitment to a sanctioning action) related to some action that is forbidden or illegal to some legal role or agent.
Incriminating norm
Institutional Facts are the legal counterpart of natural phenomena, being directly created by the application or enforcement of constitutive norms.
Fatto istituzionale
Institutional fact
Evidence of intentionality (to do something) is a legal cognitive fact, which is dependent on the expression of a Will (to do sth). It can be assumed or hinted by some cognitely-related event.
Intentionality evidence
Prova di intenzionalità
A legal description stating the actions to be carried out to react to some behaviour that is in the scope of the judgment.
Judgment procedure
Procedura di giudizio
Decisione giudiziale
Judicial decision
A collection of norms aimed at providing the context for regulating a sector of the social behavior
Law
Legge
Legal acts are legal facts that depend on the will of some rational agent that acts for a legal subject. Therefore, a legal act has a will-evidence as proper part.
Atto legale
Legal act
Legal function is an agent-driven role, while legal asset is not played by agents.
Legal asset
Proprietà legale
A legal task defined by a regulative norm.
Comportamento legale
Legal behaviour
A legal fact in the scope of a judgment procedure.
Caso legale
Legal case
Legal Cognitive Facts (e.g. Will, Agreements, Mistakes) are legal facts, which are settings for a NaturalPerson, some Description or Concept, at least one InformationObject, and some CognitiveEvent of that NaturalPerson.
In other words, cognitive facts are assumed to be contexts for some mental content (Description, Concept, etc.), which is expressed by some InformationObject, and conceptualized by an Agent during a CognitiveEvent.
Moreover, a cognitive fact is legally relevant when it falls under the scope of some Norm.
Cognitive facts either satisfy (parts of) existing social and legal norms, or are cases of non-conformity.
Among legal cognitive facts, (assumed or expressed) Intentionality (to do something) is dependent on (assumed or expressed) Will (to do sth), which is dependent on (assumed or expressed) Consciousness (of sth). Suitas (Free Will) grounds the distinction between fault and intentional fraud in Crime Law.
Fatto legale cognitivo
Legal cognitive fact
A concept defined in a legal constitutive norm.
Concetto legale
Legal concept
A contract designed according to, and compliant with law. Contracts are legal descriptions that regulate human transactions.
Validity criteria can be multivaried, but the basic one is having some part of the contract satisfied by a legal transaction.
Contratto legale
Legal contract
A constitutive norm that introduces one or more legal entities (subjects, functions, persons, etc.).
Definizione legale
Legal definition
A social description having legal validity and possibly effects. They can be either legal norms, principles, rationales, contracts, regulations to enforce norms, etc.
Descrizione legale
Legal description
A document that realizes a normative text. It must match certain physical qualities stated by a legal norm.
Documento legale
Legal document
Legal Facts (including cases) are situations depending on norms (only facts relevant for legal systems are legal facts). Legal facts may include Natural Facts (e.g. a death), which are dependent on phenomena, but not on (inherently intentional) human actions. On the other hand, Human Facts depend on conscious intentional human ac-tions. Human facts include: i) Institutional Facts, which are the legal counterpart of natural phenomena, being directly created by the application of constitutive norms, ii) Legal Acts, which depend on the will of some legal agent, iii) Legal Transactions, which depend on the intentionality of some legal agent.
Fatto legale
Legal fact
A social object (not necessarily agentive) described by a legal definition.
Figura giuridica
Legal figure
Legal functions are legal roles, only played by legal subjects.
Among legal functions, so-called Primary Functions (e.g. Son, Heir, Citizen) are defined by constitutive norms.
Funzione giuridica
Legal function
A synthetic explanation of the fundamental reasons for a legal provision or decision. It can be dependent on (or having as parts) principles and norms.
Legal maxim
Massima legale
A regulation having an agent obligation as part. More specifically, an explicitly stated guide (according to conventional rules for publicity and enforcement) for conduct or action, being enforceable, and supposed to be followed by the members of a community.
According to the legal system in which it is contained, a norm can be more or less based on principles, self-consistency of the system, or previously decided cases.
Legal norm
Norma legale
A parameter defined by a legal description.
Legal parameter
Parametro legale
A quality that something has to have in order to comply to some legal description.
Here this is modelled as a quality q-located at some region 'admitted by' a legal description.
Legal quality
Qualità legale
A role defined by a legal definition (not even by any legal description?).
Legal Roles are roles played by either physical or social objects.
Among legal roles, some of them constitute the basic entities of the legal world, such as Legal Subject and Legal Asset. Legal Function is an agentive legal role, while Legal Asset is non-agentive. Legal functions can be played either by physical agents or by legally constructed individuals.
Legal role
Ruolo legale
A dul:Person defined by a LegalDefinition .
Legal Subjects (or Agents or Persons) are legally-constructed social agents, i.e. introduced by constitutive norms.
A Natural Person creates a Legal Subject it acts for on the only basis of its physical existence (but the property is extended temporally before and after death, as far as legal effects of her actions are still ongoing).
A Legal Subject needs to fit strict requirements, such as age, mental non-illness, or artificial existence.
Legal subject
Soggetto giuridico
A task defined by a legal description (not necessarily by a dedicated legal definition?).
Legal task
Task legale
A text that expresses legal content (norms), according to specified parameters for its validity.
Legal text
Testo legale
Legal transactions are legal facts that depend on the intentionality of some rational agent that acts for a legal subject. Therefore, a legal act has an intentionality-evidence as proper part.
Legal transaction
Transazione legale
Legally-constructed Institutions (e.g. Ministries, Bodies, Societies, Agencies) are legal agents that perform legal acts, on behalf of powers conferred by means of power-conferring norms. They are created by constitutive norms that justify their existence and validity. An important subclass of them includes Institutional Powers.
Istituzione costitutita legalmente
Legally-constructed institution
Situations that are relevant for the assessing of a legal fact. Every situation that is in the scope of a legal description.
Circostanza di rilevanza legale
Legally-relevant circumstance
The collection of norms governing a certain domain or sector
Legislation
Legislazione
Natural Legal Facts are facts (e.g. a death), which are dependent on phenomena, but not on (inherently intentional) human actions.
Fatto legale naturale
Natural legal fact
A constitutive norm that confers a power to some legal role or figure.
Power-conferring rule
Regola di conferimento di potere
A basic assumption in Law. Cf. the class 'principle'.
Principio di legge
Principle of law
Agente razionale
Rational agent
Regolamento
Regulation
Constitutive Norms introduce new entities in the ground ontology, while Regulative Norms provide constraints on existing ground entities, i.e. they have situations in their scope which eventually satisfy the regulative norm (in either positive or negative sense).
Regulative Norms define Behaviour Courses, and have at least one Modal Description as a proper part.
Norma regolativa
Regulative norm
Status
Evidenced will (to do sth) is a legal cognitive fact, which is depending on an assumed or expressed consciousness (of sth). It can be assumed or hinted by some cognitely-related event.
Prova di volontà
Will evidence
a clause which makes the validity of a legal instrument or act depend on a contingency
Condition
a provision issued by a judge concerning the times, conditions and instruments of proceedings
Decree
order
the set of conditions applied in an employment relationship
Employment conditions
A power conferred by a power-conferring rule.
Each of the spheres of legal/institutional functions conferred to a person/body for their holding an office
Institutional power
the body of legislative or customary rules regulating social relations
La legge
Law
any legal act by which public authorities exercise their legislative, administrative or judicial powers and functions
Measure
action
measure taken by an administrative authority which binds a person or body to a certain behaviour
Order
decree
judgment
ordinance
any regulation governing human conduct
Provision
prescript
provision
rule
title given to a person on the basis of his/her education, function or social condition (e.g. doctor, general, etc.)
Title
Disability
the obligation to do a given thing
Duty
Immunity
The set of normative positions from Hohfeld's works (and his continuators).
Legal modal description
Liability
Non-right
Sartor (2004): 'the proposition expressing the obligation to perform a
certain action is true whenever optimal practical cognition would lead one
to have the intention of accomplishing that action'. Where practical
cognition is defined as such: 'while theoretical reasoning consists in
moving from one's current beliefs and perceptual states into new beliefs,
practical reasoning consists in moving from one's belief and conative
states into new conatives states. It can be as rational as theoretical can
be ... the question -What plan is such that I should adopt it?- can be
viewed as an abbreviation of -What plan is such that I should have the
intention of executing it?- that means to recast one's conative states in
the form of normative beliefs. Then a normative belief is a belief that
doxifies a conative state. A normative proposition is the content of a
normative belief. Practical cognition creates normative states of affairs
that we tend to consider as having independent reality: normative states
of affairs exist as a reflex of (optimal) practical cognition: the task of
establishing what normative states of affairs exist coincides with the
task of discovering what conative states one could rationally adopt'.
In DnS terms, an obligation is different from a plan in the sense that while
plans can be executed without being necessarily adopted by the agent(s)
(conceiver or not) having a role in it, an obligation can be only be
executed if the agent(s) having a role in it, also adopt(s) it.
It is also different from an elementary duty, since obligations usually have
other descriptions (at least one duty, one plan, one goal, and -legally-
one sanction) as proper parts.
Obligation
the fact of being capable of having rights and duties
Power
Privilege
an abstract idea of that which is due to a person or governmental body by law, agreements, tradition or nature
Right
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