Disgrifiad
Lots of disciplines use images, but despite growing interest in the use of images in the discipline of law we still have nothing that is equivalent to the map in geography, or to symbols in maths: we remain tied in our doctrinal discourse to ‘black-letter law’. This constrains legal education techniques and restricts the accessibility of law for students and the public.This paper introduces a universal diagrammatic modelling language (UDML) for, inter alia, the representation of fundamental aspects of the legal person and its relationships in 2, 3, or 4 dimensions. The UDML involves a particular geometric shape derived from the concept of the legal plane. The shape can function as a diagram in a manner consistent with certain universal aspects of yin-yang as postulated in the i-ching. By applying insights from the field of linguistics (Saussure’s signifier/signified, and Oden and Richard’s ‘triangle of reference’) the diagram is shown to be capable of adequately representing not only fundamental aspects of the legal person and its internal and external interactions, but indeed anything at all. Through structured representations any and all aspects of situations in law (disputable or not) are thereby demonstrated to be capable of being modelled in a semantically meaningful way.
One advantage of the diagram is that it is simple and readily anthropomorphizable, not unlike a stick-figure. Young children have been able to quickly learn and apply the UDML to real-life situations, and it has been helpful in explaining legal principles and cases to undergraduates. A broader benefit is that because the UDML is independent of natural language, it transcends vernacular variations and enables attention to be focused on the Platonic ‘form’ inherent in fundamental aspects of doctrinal law, such as in the principles of the international legal order. There is also evidence that visually representing situations in law may be of assistance to neuro-divergent learners. Achieving the full potential of the UDML to model any and all aspects of a case in four dimensions, even down to minute physical aspects of cyber-interference, is a laborious task. However, as the diagram can be rendered simply as a binary data (or more complexly as analogue data), and as computing science has developed so greatly in recent years, it seems conceivable that there is potential for machine learning and application of the UDML and that the implications of this could be considerable.
The paper is divided into three parts: the first regarding the shape itself; the second the semantics of the shape as a diagram; and the third the syntax of the diagram in its interactive environment. Each part is divided into three sections: the first section considers relevant theoretical aspects; the second applies these aspects to the basic development of the UDML; and the third extends that application to elaborate more advanced aspects of the UDML.
| Cyfnod | 16 Ebr 2026 |
|---|---|
| Teitl y digwyddiad | British and Irish Legal Education and Technology Association (BILETA) conference |
| Math o ddigwyddiad | Cynhadledd |
| Lleoliad | Teyrnas Unedig Prydain Fawr a Gogledd IwerddonDangos ar fap |