Aristotelian Logic Applied to Hohfeld’s System

Abstract

Some logical connections between Hohfeld’s fundamental jural relations, which are treated in traditional logic, are not treated by Hohfeld, although his system is intended to be consistent with logic. Hohfeld’s fundamental jural relations are four in number and the number of contradictory pairs of jural relations is two; in these respects it contains all the necessary basic data for establishing that some interrelationships exist which Hohfeld did not mention. The result of this may be an arrangement of the four basic jural relations which, compared with Hohfeld’s system, is more appropriate in legal analyses, legal education and law’s computerization. We can do this analogous to the well-known Aristotelian square of opposition. It is therefore necessary to describe this square now.