Formal Ontology and the SOoL Kernel
From philosophical structure to computable models.
This page introduces the formal ontology layer of SOoL. It teaches the basic modeling principles from the textbook, shows how they apply to law, and then connects those principles to two practical artifacts: the SOoL kernel ontology in OWL and the offense mapping dataset.
What formal ontology contributes
Formal ontology is not a substitute for doctrine. It is a method for making the structural conditions of legality explicit: the kinds of entities that must exist for law to function, the relations that bind them, and the event patterns by which legal effects are produced and repaired.
A practical way to think about this: if the Minimum Legal Chain is the student-facing diagnostic, formal ontology is the machine-readable version of the same structure. It tells you what must exist, what depends on what, and how contradiction and repair can be represented without handwaving.
Principles for legal modeling
Continuants
Entities that persist through time. In law: agents, institutions, courts, organizations, statutes as artifacts, and standing legal roles.
Occurrents
Entities that unfold through time. In law: filings, signings, hearings, arrests, adjudications, enforcement actions, and repair processes.
Dependent continuants
Entities that depend on institutional structures and recognitions. In law: rights, duties, powers, permissions, immunities, and liabilities.
Why it matters
It clarifies how law can be both stable and changing: stable through enduring structures, changing through events that create, modify, or extinguish dependent legal relations.
Modeling pattern: a legal case can be represented as an event complex with participating agents bearing roles, producing outputs that modify a network of dependent relations such as obligations and permissions.
The SOoL kernel ontology (embedded)
The kernel is a minimal OWL scaffold for SOoL. It is intended to be extended, not treated as a jurisdiction-specific ontology. Use it as the formal backbone for modules and tools.
This embedded view is for reading and copying. It avoids download issues and makes the kernel immediately usable in class. If you want a file for Protégé, keep a canonical copy in your ontology folder as well.
Offense mapping (embedded, searchable)
The offense mapping dataset operationalizes the core idea that legal violations can be classified by structural failure mode, not only by doctrinal label. Each entry maps an offense to a structural violation class and a chain failure cue, which can then be used as a fast entry point into IRACplus.
How a 1L uses this (fast)
- Find the issue. Search the table for the offense, claim, or constitutional violation.
- Read the mapping. Note the structural violation class and the chain failure cue.
- Build the chain. In IRACplus, fill facts and complete the Minimum Legal Chain.
- Diagnose. Use the square and typology to select the primary contradiction type.
- Write. Generate an IRAC draft from structure, then refine with doctrine and authority.
This is not replacing doctrine. It is a disciplined way to see what doctrine is doing structurally.
Why this matters for teaching
The formal layer makes SOoL reusable and testable. Students learn a stable diagnostic structure. Instructors gain a consistent way to explain why rules and doctrines exist across subjects. Researchers and tool builders gain explicit categories for building, extending, and evaluating legal reasoning systems.
When structure is explicit, law becomes easier to model, compare, critique, and repair.