• Funding : ANR, Région HdF
  • Start year :
  • 2021

Argumentation is a common form of human reasoning. It consists of a dialogue where two or more people exchange arguments. These arguments can attack or support each other. Formal models of argumentative reasoning have been developed by researchers in artificial intelligence (AI). However, the use of this theory of formal argumentation in legal reasoning is not as advanced as it could be. The first thing to do is to find out why. Our objective is to study whether the existing models of argumentation are suitable for use in practice, by analyzing concrete examples from the law. The next step will be the definition and development of a general framework based on argumentation that can be used in legal reasoning. Finally, we will apply this framework to formalize many aspects of legal reasoning. For example, our framework will be used to study case law, i.e., to predict the decision in a current case. The user will be able to request an explanation/justification of the decision, which the system will provide in the form of an argumentation framework.