Self-study
P1
Computers have long been utilized in the sphere of law in the form of word processors, spreadsheets, legal research systems, and practice management systems. ███
Context ·
Computers often used by lawyers
Topic ·
Exciting prospect of using computers for legal reasoning
Problem ·
Computers don't perform legal reasoning well
Main Point / Explanation ·
Computers have difficult interpreting and applying legal rules
P2
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Early Methods ·
Assumed computers could apply facts to rules to reach legal results
Problem with Early Methods ·
Underestimated difficulty of interpretation
E.g., is a mobile home in a trailer park a house or a motor vehicle? That requires interpretation. Many laws contain vague concepts in order to be flexible. But to apply those laws requires a lot of contextual knowledge about the world.
P3
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Modern Methods ·
Computers that incorporate case law
Proponents believe that computers can be programed with cases and use case-based reasoning to reach the right conclusion.
Problem with Modern Methods ·
The problem of interpretation is still present
Because the computer still needs to figure out which cases are similar in relevant ways.
Passage Style
Problem-analysis
Single position
22.
In relation to
a
a general assertion █████████ ██ ███ ████████ ████████████
The claim in P1 is a general assertion: legal systems don’t do as good a job as hoped. The claim in P2 provides some support for that general assertion by observing one reason why earlier systems have fallen short of expectations. The claim in P3 gives further support by observing why more recent systems are still less useful than hoped.
b
a general assertion ████████ ██ ███ ██████████ ███ ██ █████ ████████ ███ ███ ██ █████ ███████ ███ ███████ █████████
The claims in P2 and P3 aren’t full arguments; they’re just claims. (The claim in P2 could be considered a sub-conclusion supported by the rest of P2, while the claim in P3 is simply an assertion of fact.) And both claims support the general assertion in P1—neither refutes it.
c
a general assertion ████ ███████ ███ ████ ████████ ██████████
This gets the direction of support backward. “Entails” means “implies.” But the assertion in P1 doesn’t imply that the assertions in P2 or P3 must be true. The fact that legal reasoning systems have fallen short of expectations doesn’t tell us that such systems must specifically have problems with interpretation or with matching cases to precedents. Rather, those two specific problems are independent observations that the author makes, and she uses those observations as support to explain why, exactly, legal reasoning systems have issues overall.
d
a theoretical assumption ███████ ██ ███ ████████ ████████████
The observations in P2 and P3 don’t refute the claim in P1. They support that claim.
e
a specific observation ████ ████████ ███ ████████████ ███████████████
The claims in P2 and P3 aren’t incompatible. They’re observations about two different types of legal reasoning systems, and they both support the claim in P1.