An Interdisciplinary Approach to Legal Terminology: Challenges of the “Algorithmic Turn” in Legal Science

In this paper we aim to discuss the current challenges of legal science caused by the diffused use of AI software in various legal operations (verification, drafting, risk analysis and prediction). Working on the threshold between legal philosophy and computer engineering, we are going to address especially one problem, i.e. how the meaning of terms used in legal documents might be fixed differently because of the progressive and increased use of AI software by legal professionals (lawyers, judges, notaries). To do so, we are going to refer to Herbert Hart’s idea that all legal concepts – via the terms referring to them – always have a core of settled meaning, but are also characterized, as well, by a penumbra of debatable cases in which words are neither obviously applicable nor obviously ruled out. These are so-called “hard cases”. Here are some questions that we aim to address: is it possible to anticipate the potential emergence of hard cases and hence prepare legal software to deal with the core-penumbra problem in legal meaning? How can machines perceive the relevance of the context and of societal change (fundamental aspects in Hart’s legal theory of meaning)?