Title: Annotating legal documents with GaiusT 2.0

Authors: Nicola Zeni; Luisa Mich; John Mylopoulos

Addresses: Information Engineering and Computer Science, University of Trento, Trento, Italy ' Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Trento, Trento, Italy ' Information Engineering and Computer Science, University of Trento, Trento, Italy

Abstract: We present the GaiusT 2.0 framework for annotating legal documents. The framework was designed and implemented as a web-based system to semi-automate the extraction of legal concepts from text. In requirements analysis these concepts can be used to identify requirements a software system has to fulfil to comply with a law or regulation. The analysis and annotation of legal documents in prescriptive natural language is still an open problem for research in the field. In GaiusT 2.0, a multistep process exploits a number of linguistic and technological resources to offer a comprehensive annotation environment. The modules of the system are presented as evolutions from corresponding modules of the original GaiusT framework, which in turn was based on a general-purpose annotation tool, Cerno. The application of GaiusT 2.0 is illustrated with two use cases, to demonstrate the extraction process and its adaptability to different law models.

Keywords: semantic annotation; annotation schema; annotation engine; document structure analyser; legal documents; legal requirements; compliance requirements; natural language processing; prescriptive language; linguistic resources; user needs.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMSO.2017.087697

International Journal of Metadata, Semantics and Ontologies, 2017 Vol.12 No.1, pp.47 - 58

Received: 06 Apr 2017
Accepted: 20 Jul 2017
Published online: 30 Oct 2017 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article