Reasoning with Deontic Notions in a Decidable Framework

The development of legal reasoning using decidable fragments of knowledge modeling languages is essential in the Semantic Web for the huge amount of triples available nowadays as Linked Open Data. This Chapter introduces a frame- work for legal knowledge representation and reasoning based on the distinction be- tween the concepts of provision and norm, suited for different kinds of legal reasoning: legal provisions accessibility and norm compliance, respectively. The proposed framework allows the addressed types of reasoning to be implemented using OWL 2 decidable profiles and reasoners. Examples of decidable reasoning within the proposed framework are presented and tested.