From law to DiaLaw

Abstract

The dialectical style of studying argumentation is old, very old. Already Aristotle and Protagoras did recognize the dialectical nature of argumentation. A few millennia later, from the beginning of the 1990s onwards to be exact, researchers involved in the field of AI & Law became interested in dialogical models of argumentation. By approaching argumentation dialogically the research on AI & Law followed in the footsteps of prominent researchers from various fields like:

• ● philosophy (e.g., Perelman & Olbrechts-Tyteca, 1971; Habermas, 1973; Rescher, 1977);

• ● logic (e.g., Lorenz, 1961; Barth & Krabbe, 1982);

• ● legal theory (e.g., Aarnio, Alexy & Peczenik, 1981), and;

• ● argumentation (e.g., Hamblin, 1970; Van Eemeren & Grootendorst, 1982; Woods & Walton, 1982).