The law as a dynamic interconnected system of states of affairs: a legal top ontology

In this paper, an abstract model of the law is presented that has three primitives: states of affairs, events and rules. The starting point of the abstract model is that the law is a dynamic system of states of affairs which are connected by means of rules and events. The abstract model can be regarded as a top ontology of the law, that can be applied to legal knowledge representation. After an elaboration of the three primitives, the uses of the abstract model are illustrated by the analysis of central topics of law. Then we discuss heuristic guidelines for legal knowledge representation that are suggested by the abstract model. The paper concludes with a comparison with related work. The appendix contains a formalism for the abstract model.