The 2nd International Workshop on
Methodologies for Research on Legal Argumentation (MET-ARG)
“Argumentation and Evidence”
at
 WAW 2018
Warsaw Argumentation Week
September 15th, 2018, Warsaw
Pałac Staszica, Nowy Świat 72, room 232 (second floor)
MET-ARG is held in conjunction with the 16th ArgDiaP Workshop
and is organized under auspices of the ArgDiaP organisation
The 2nd MET-ARG workshop, devoted to Argumentation & Evidence, aims to provide a space for exchange of methodological ideas concerning the research on argumentation related to evidence and proof. The topics related to reasoning with evidence are currently one of the most prominent areas of interdisciplinary research, including the following domains: argumentation theory, philosophy, psychology, computational argumentation, AI & Law, probability theory etc. With the strong progress in th

e field and new results being generated, the awareness of methodological problems related to the research has been increasing.  A strong need has arisen for cooperation and mutual inspiration across various disciplines, as well as for a broad discussion of the nature of relations between various mechanisms of evidence evaluation.

Furthermore, the rapid development of sophisticated machine learning and data mining mechanisms  has paved a new way for identifying new kinds of evidence and re-evaluating the existing ones, opening up a new space for an in-depth discussion of the mechanisms of evaluation of evidence and their relations to other ways of representation of evidential arguments.

The models, theories and approaches need to be compared and discussed, and perhaps in certain cases – confronted. One of the most important topics is the evaluation of the existing approaches and their applicability in legal practice and in forensic science.

The paramount topic of the workshop aiming to integrate different models, approaches and issues is argumentation: what is the structure of arguments used to persuade the relevant actors to undertake certain decisions in the process of evidence and proof, how are these arguments justified and how should they be investigated.

The extended abstracts should be submitted by 15 July 2018 (for more information, see below). The peer-reviewed full versions of papers from the workshop will be published as a special issue of the Journal of Applied Logics – IfCoLoG Journal of Logics and their Applications.

MET-ARG takes place in Warsaw at the Institute for Philosophy & Sociology at the Polish Academy of Sciences (IFiS PAN).

The topics include, but are not limited to:


Methods, models and approaches

  • Argumentation schemes
  • Bayesian networks
  • Dempster-Shafer theory
  • Formal models of argumentation
  • Hybrid models of reasoning
  • Belief revision theory
  • Constraint satisfaction
  • Speech acts theory
  • Case-based reasoning
  • Doctrinal legal reasoning
  • Data mining
  • Machine learning & Natural Language Processing
  • Computational linguistics

Specific topics

  • Causality
  • Constitutional and human rights issues related to evidence
  • Evidence weighing
  • Evolution of case law on evidence
  • Standards of proof
  • Burdens of proof
  • Expert opinion
  • Testimony
  • Jury reasoning
  • Forensic investigation
  • Integration of various models of representation and evaluation of evidence
Invited speaker
Title: Representing (Legal) Argumentation Schemes with Constraint Handling Rules
Abstract: We present a high-level declarative programming language for representing (legal) argumentation schemes, where schemes represented in this language can be easily validated by domain experts, such as lawyers, and serve as executable specifications for automatically constructing arguments, when applied to a set of assumptions. Since argumentation schemes are defeasible inference rules, both premises and conclusions of schemes can be second-order schema variables, i.e. without a fixed predicate symbol. The language is based on Constraint Handling Rules (CHR), a declarative, Turing complete, forwards-chaining, rule-based programming language introduced by Thom Frühwirth in 1991. The language has been validated by using it to represent twenty representative argumentation schemes. We conclude with a discussion about whether the language is expressive enough to reconstruct the argumentation schemes which have been studied in the field of AI and Law, as reported by Prakken and Sartor (2015).
Programme

9:00 – 11:00 Session I

9:00 – 9:30 Michał Araszkiewicz, Tomasz Żurek: The Argument from Principles of Logic in Evidence Assessment in Civil Proceedings
9:30 – 10:00 Michal Sopinski: Why legal syllogism is not sufficient to justify legal decisions? Remarks on Neil MacCormick’s theory of legal reasoning
10:00 – 10:30 Giovanni Tuzet: Abduction and Causal Reasoning
10:30 – 11:00 Stanisław Goźdź-Roszkowski: Using Corpus Linguistics Methodology to Evaluate Epistemic Status of Arguments in Legal Justifications
11:00 – 11:30 coffee break
Coffeetura (Krakowskie Przedmieście 4\6, map)

11:30 – 13:00 Session II
11:30 – 12:30 Invited speaker. Tom Gordon: Representing (Legal) Argumentation Schemes with Constraint Handling Rules
12:30 – 13:00 Douglas Walton: A First Pass at Modeling Distance in Legal Relevance Using Carneades

13:00 – 15:00 lunch

15:00 – 16:00 Session III
15:00 – 15:30 Szymon Mazurkiewicz: Logical analysis in constitutional law – why the “judgment paradox” from the judgment of 09.03.2016 r. of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal (K 47/15) is not based on the Liar’s paradox?
15:30 – 16:00 Michał Wilk, Błażej Kuźniacki and Michał Jaworski: Decoding the Principal Purpose Test (PPT) via KBAI

16:00 – 16:30 coffee break
Coffeetura (Krakowskie Przedmieście 4\6, map)

16:30 – 13:00 Session IV
16:30 – 17:00 Paulo Quaresma, Prakash Poudyal, Teresa Gonçalves: An architecture for the automatic identification of arguments in legal documents
17:00 – 17:30 Jakub Harašta, Jaromír Šavelka, František Kasl and Jakub Míšek: Automatic Segmentation of Czech Court Decisions into Multi-Paragraph Parts
17:30 – 17:45 Final remarks

 
19.00 Gala dinner: Barka Atalanta Club & Restarant (Bulwar Bohdana Siedleckiego-Grzymały, close to Warsaw mermaid statue)
 
Important dates

  • Abstract submission deadline (EXTENDED): 06 July 15 July
  • Notification of acceptance: 27 July
  • Camera ready abstracts: 17 August
  • Early registration deadline: 24 August 30 August [deadline extended due to technical problems with the webpage]
  • MET-ARG workshop: 15 September
  • Full paper submission deadline to the special issue of IfCoLoG journal): TBC

Submission

Contributors should submit an extended abstract of the paper (maximum 2 pages excluding references) using the format required for the conference program. Submitted abstracts should give full names and contact details for all authors. Formatting instructions, as well as the style and sample files, are available here:

Abstracts should be submitted in PDF format through our dedicated EasyChair site no later than 6 July 2018:

https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=2ndmetarg

Submissions will be reviewed by members of the programme committee. Notification of acceptance will be sent by 27 July 2018. At least one author of each accepted abstract must register for the conference. The peer-reviewed full versions of papers will be published as a post-conference proceedings.
Participation and registration
In order to register to 2nd MET-ARG workshop, you need to complete a form and pay a fee. The registration link and payment details can be accessed below (in case of problems, please make sure you are using the latest version of your browser). In case, you are planning to participate in more than one WAW event, we offer discounts in early registration fee – see here for the available packages. The package can be selected through drop down list in a registration form.
 Early registration fee
until 24 August
 Late registration fee
after 24 August
  Onsite registration fee
Workshop Registration  100 PLN*
(approx. 24 EUR)		  140 PLN
(approx. 33 EUR)		  170 PLN
(approx. 40 EUR)
Gala Dinner Ticket
(optional)		  120 PLN*
(approx. 28 EUR)		  170 PLN
(approx. 40 EUR)		  200 PLN
(approx. 47 EUR)

The MET-ARG fees include conference materials, lunch and coffee breaks. If you only register to a workshop and would like to attend the Gala Dinner, you have an option to check a box in the registration form to add the Gala Dinner ticket to your registration fee. The gala dinner will take place on Sat 15th Sept.

At least one of the authors of each accepted paper is required to attend the workshop and to present the paper.

Registration for ArgDiap Events is now open. Click below to register for the ArgDiap Conference and either ArgDiap Workshop.

There are discounts in the registration fees in case of participating in two or more WAW2018 events. See here for more details on the available packages. Note that P2 (5% discount) applies if you register for both the ArgDiap conference and any of the ArgDiap workshops by the early bird date (24th August).

http://waw2018.argdiap.pl/argdiap-workshops/#reg

The total registration fee, which appears at the bottom of the form and in the confirmation email, must be paid via bank transfer. Unfortunately, due to some Polish regulations we cannot accept credit card payments. Note that if you register to the COMMA conference and you are not interested in display space or sponsorship, attendance to the Industry Afternoon is free. For bank transfer details related to SSA, go to this webpage. For bank transfer details for the COMMA events, go to this webpage.

If you have any problems which delay your bank transfer, please send an email to Katarzyna Budzynska (budzynska.argdiap@gmail.com) with a confirmation that the payment procedure has started (e.g. a forwarded email from your University’s Administration team that the payment is being processed). As long as such confirmation is received by 9th September, your registration will be treated as early registration.
IBAN: PL91 2490 0005 0000 4530 3800 6827
SWIFT CODE: ALBPPLPW

ACCOUNT HOLDER:
Stowarzyszenie ArgDiaP (ArgDiaP Association)
ul. Krolewska 2
30-045 Krakow
POLAND

PAYMENT REFERENCE:
Workshop Fee: MET-ARG 2018 – [Fist Name] [Last Name]

Special Issue
The peer-reviewed full versions of papers from the workshop will be published as a special issue of the Journal of Applied Logics – IfCoLoG Journal of Logics and their Applications. More information will be available soon.

 

Programme Committee

  • Michał Araszkiewicz (Jagiellonian University, Cracow, Poland)
  • Kevin Ashley (University of Pittsburgh, USA)
  • Katie Atkinson (University of Liverpool, UK)
  • Floris Bex (University of Utrecht, Netherlands)
  • Katarzyna Budzynska (Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland & University of Dundee, UK)
  • Marcello Ceci (University College of Cork, Ireland)
  • Federico Constantini (University of Udine, Italy)
  • Christian Dahlman (Lund University, Sweden)
  • Giovanni Damele (University of Lisbon, Portugal)
  • Tom van Engers (University of Amsterdam, Netherlands)
  • Eveline Feteris (University of Amsterdam, Netherlands)
  • Dov Gabbay (King’s College London, UK)
  • Tomasz Gizbert-Studnicki (Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland)
  • Matthias Grabmair (Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA)
  • Jaap Hage (University of Maastricht, Netherlands)
  • Jeroen Keppens (King’s College London, UK)
  • Marcin Koszowy  (University of Bialystok, Poland)
  • Fabrizio Macagno (University of Lisbon, Portugal)
  • Anne Ruth Mackor (University of Groningen, Netherlands)
  • Krzysztof Płeszka (Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland)
  • Giovanni Sartor (University of Bologna, Italy)
  • Burkhard Schäfer (University of Edinbourgh, UK)
  • Jaromír Šavelka (University of Pittsburgh, USA)
  • Giovanni Tuzet (Bocconi University, Italy)
  • Mariusz Urbański (Adam Mickiewicz University,  Poznań, Poland)
  • Bart Verheij (University of Groningen, Netherlands)
  • Vern Walker (Hofstra University, USA)
  • Douglas Walton (University of Windsor, Canada)
  • Adam Wyner (University of Aberdeen, UK)
  • Tomasz Żurek (Marie Curie Skłodowska University, Lublin, Poland)
Organizing Committee