Introduction to the Learning Program for the LEGAL RELATIONS Language
This brief introduction to the Learning Program for the LEGAL RELATIONS
language,
is a densely-packed set of complex interrelated ideas, the full
appreciation of which
is the objective of the exercises included in the Learning Program.
(Note: terms appearing in upper-case letters are defined terms in the
language.) It includes a concise but complete summary of the infinite
number of LEGAL RELATIONS
that can be expressed in this language.
Overview
- The DUTY LEGAL RELATION is defined realistically in terms of the obligation
of one legal person with respect to another legal person, and how the
legal system treats the violation of that obligation.
- DUTY is then used as the basis clause of a Recursive Definition of
LEGAL RELATIONS. The inductive clauses of that Recursive Definition define the
following as LEGAL RELATIONS:
- Negations of LEGAL RELATIONS,
- Equivalents of LEGAL RELATIONS,
- CONDTIONAL LEGAL RELATIONS.
- POWER of a person to create LEGAL RELATIONS, and
Finally, the terminal clause indicates that all other
propositions that do NOT qualify as LEGAL RELATIONS by virtue of the
basis clause or the inductive clauses, are NOT LEGAL RELATIONS. - A summarizing diagram of the Recursive Definition of LEGAL RELATIONS is then set forth.
- Definitions and examples of Negations of, CONDITIONAL, and POWER LEGAL RELATIONS are given.
- Equivalence Diagrams for the LEGAL RELATIONS
- Level 0: Deontic LEGAL RELATIONS (DUTY set and Negation of DUTY set),
- Level 1: CONDITIONAL LEGAL RELATIONS (CONDITIONAL set and Negation of CONDITIONAL set),
- Level 1: Capacitive LEGAL RELATIONS (POWER set and Negation of POWER set), and
- Level n LEGAL RELATIONS
are provided. They indicate the equivalencies among the various LEGAL RELATIONS and their Negations.
Abbreviations
| Term | Ab. | Notation | Text | |
Term | Ab. | Notation | Text |
| CONDITIONAL | Cc | CONDc | CONDITIONAL
(realized upon fulfillment of condition c) | |
OBLIGATORY | O | OBLIGATORY | OBLIGATORY |
| DUTY | D | DUTY | DUTY | |
PRIVILEGE | PV | PRIVILEGE | PRIVILEGE |
| DISABILITY | DB | DISABILITY | DISABILITY | |
POWER | P | POWER | POWER |
| DONE-BY | D2 | DONE-BY | DONE BY | |
a person | 1 | p1 | person1 |
| DONE-FOR | D4 | DONE-FOR | DONE FOR | |
another person | 2 | p2 | person2 |
| IMMUNITY | IM | IMMUNITY | IMMUNITY | |
some person | p | person-p | a person |
| LIABILITY | LB | LIABILITY | LIABILITY | |
exercise | x | x | exercise |
| LEGAL RELATION | LR | LEGAL RELATION | LEGAL RELATION | |
there is a state-of-affairs (a proposition) | s | state | state of affairs |
| Negation | N | NOT | IT IS NOT SO THAT | |
RIGHT | R | RIGHT | RIGHT |
| NO-RIGHT | N-R | NO-RIGHT | NO-RIGHT | |
| | | |
A similar table of abbreviations will be available on each page in the Learning Program by clicking on
Definition of DUTY LEGAL RELATION
DUTY
"Person1 has a DUTY to person2 to bring about the state of affairs."
means
"IT IS OBLIGATORY THAT the state of affairs DONE-FOR person2 is DONE-BY person1."
which in turn means, operationally in terms of how the legal system will treat the violation,
| IF | 1. | IT IS NOT SO THAT the state of affairs DONE-FOR person2 is DONE-BY person1, |
| THEN | 2. | person1 has violated the DUTY to person2 to bring about the state of affairs, AND |
| | 3. | IF | A. | person2 seeks remedy in the legal system by litigating, |
| | | THEN | B. | the legal system will provide a remedy to person2 with respect to person1." |
In the sentence above that defines DUTY contextually:
- The text, "IT IS OBLIGATORY THAT", expresses the deontic
(normative) content of the defining sentence, AND it applies to the
constituent sentence that follows.
- In the constituent sentence that follows, "The state of
affairs DONE-FOR person2 is DONE-BY person1", the "DONE-FOR" and
"DONE-BY" connect propositions describing state of affairs with persons
to express another proposition.
- The text, "the state of affairs DONE-FOR person2 is",
expresses the proposition, "The state of affairs is DONE-FOR person2",
which is connected to person1 by "DONE-BY" to express the proposition
"The state of affairs DONE-FOR person2 is DONE-BY person1".
- The text "the state of affairs" expresses the proposition,
"There is a state of affairs", which is connected to person2 by
"DONE-FOR" to express the proposition, "The state of affairs is
DONE-FOR person2."
In notation this DUTY is written:
person1_DUTY_person2_state.
It is abbreviated:
1D2s
Return to top
Recursive Definition of LEGAL RELATIONS
LEGAL RELATIONS are defined contextually in the following Recursive Definition.
| (1) | DUTY propositions (both to bring about a state of affairs and NOT to
bring about a state of affairs) are LEGAL RELATIONS. |
(2) | A. | IF | | 1. LR is a LEGAL RELATION, |
| | | THEN | | 2. the Negation of LR is a LEGAL RELATION.
|
| B. | Equivalents of LEGAL RELATIONS are LEGAL RELATIONS. |
| | C. | IF | | 1. LR is a LEGAL RELATION, AND |
| | | | | 2. CONDcLR is a proposition that indicates that LR will be created |
| | | | | upon fulfillment of some specified condition c, |
| | | THEN | | 3. CONDcLR is a LEGAL RELATION |
| | D. | IF | | 1. LR is a LEGAL RELATION, AND |
| | | | | | 2. xD2p_POWER_LR is a POWER proposition that indicates that LR will be created when person-p exercises that POWER, |
| | | THEN | | 3. xD2p_POWER_LR is a LEGAL RELATION. |
| (3) | IF | A. a proposition is NOT a LEGAL RELATION by virtue of (1) or (2), |
| | THEN | B. it is NOT a LEGAL RELATION. |
Return to top
Summarizing Diagram of the Recursive Definition of LEGAL RELATIONS
┌─────────────────────────────────┐
│ LEGAL RELATIONS │
│ ┌──────────────────────┐ │
│ │ p1_DUTY_p2_state │ │
│ │ p1_DUTY_p2_NOTstate │ │
┌───►┼─┬──►┤ Negation(LR) │ │
│┌──►┼─┤ │ Equivalent(LR) │ │
││┌─►┼─┤ │ CONDITIONALc_LR │ │
│││┌►┼─┘ │ p1_POWER_LR │ │
││││ │ └──────────┬───────────┘ │
││││ │ ▼ │
││││ │ ┌──────────┬───┴──────┬───────┐ │
││││ └─┼──────────┼──────────┼───────┼─┘
││││ ▼ │ │ │
││││ p1_POWER_LR ▼ │ │
│││└───┘ CONDITIONALc_LR ▼ │
││└───────────────┘ Equivalent(LR) ▼
│└───────────────────────────┘ Negation(LR)
└────────────────────────────────────┘
Return to top
Negations of, CONDITIONAL, and POWER LEGAL RELATIONS
Definition of Negations of LEGAL RELATIONS
The Negations of LEGAL RELATIONS are LEGAL RELATIONS.
Thus,
IF LR is a LEGAL RELATION
THEN "IT IS NOT SO THAT LR" is a LEGAL RELATION.
In notation the Negation of a LEGAL RELATION is written:
NOT(LR).
It is abbreviated:
NLR
Given the Definition of a Negation of a LEGAL RELATION, the following is so:
"Person1 has a DUTY to person2 to bring about a state of affairs."
is a LEGAL RELATION, since it is the basis clause of the Recursive Definition.
Therefore,
"IT IS NOT SO THAT Person1 has a DUTY to person2 to bring about the state of affairs."
is also a LEGAL RELATION.
For this example of a Negation of DUTY, the notation is written:
NOT(p1_DUTY_p2_state).
It is abbreviated:
N1D2s
Return to top
Definition of CONDITIONAL LEGAL RELATION
"There is a CONDITIONAL LEGAL RELATION CcLR that LEGAL RELATION LR will be created by the fulfillment of condition c."
means
| "1. | | LR is NOT so, AND |
| 2. | | there is an event-e that the legal system will treat as fulfilling condition c, AND, |
| 3. | | it is naturally possible for e to occur, AND, |
| 4. | | IF e occurs, THEN c is treated by the legal system as fulfilled, AND, |
| 5. | | IF c is fulfilled, THEN LR is created, AND CcLR is terminated." |
Thus, given this Definition of CONDITIONAL LEGAL RELATION, the following is so:
| IF | | 1. | CONDITIONAL (realized upon fulfillment of condition c) person1 has a DUTY
to person2 to bring about
the desired state-of-affairs-s, AND
|
| | | 2. | event-e occurs, AND |
| | | 3. | IF e occurs, THEN c is treated by the legal system to be fulfilled, |
| THEN | | 4. | c is fulfilled, AND |
| | | 5. | person1's DUTY to person2 to bring about the desired state of affairs is created, AND |
| | | 6. | the LEGAL RELATION, CONDITIONAL (upon fulfillment of condition c) person1 has a DUTY
to person2 to bring about the desired
state of affairs, is terminated. |
In notation this CONDITIONAL DUTY is written:
CONDc(person1_DUTY_person2_state). It is abbreviated:
Cc1D2s
Return to top
Definition of POWER LEGAL RELATION
POWER
The following is (1) a complete textual statement, (2) a notational
representation, and (3) an abbreviation of a person having the POWER to
create a LEGAL RELATION. They make apparent that a POWER is just a
special case of a CONDITIONAL LEGAL RELATION. A "xD2p1",
that is "exercise being DONE-BY person1", is just a special case of a
"condition c" in which some act of a legal person is involved.
Text: Exercise being DONE-BY person1 of a POWER creates LEGAL RELATION LR.
Notational Representation: xD2p1_POWER_LR
Abbreviation: xD21_P_LR
The following are briefer and more commonly used versions that will appear throughout this learning program.
Text: Person1 has POWER to create LEGAL RELATION LR.
Notational Representation: p1_POWER_LR
Abbreviation: 1_P_LR
Return to top
Both POWER statements and CONDITIONAL LEGAL RELATION statements
express conditionals. However, although all POWER statements are
CONDITIONAL LEGAL RELATION statements, NOT all CONDITIONAL LEGAL
RELATION statements are POWER statements. Both are triggered by events
that fulfill conditions. The event that triggers a POWER is some act of
the POWER-holder that the LEGAL SYSTEM will characterize as an exercise
of the POWER, while the event that triggers a CONDITIONAL LEGAL
RELATION that is NOT a POWER, does NOT involve any act of a legal
person. It is just a plain non-person event that the LEGAL SYSTEM will
characterize as the fulfillment of a condition.
Equivalence Diagrams for the LEGAL RELATIONS |
