Before and after Dung: Argumentation in AI and Law

Abstract

Dung's abstract argumentation frameworks have had a very significant role in the rise in interest in argumentation throughout this century. In this paper we will explore the impact of this seminal idea on a specific application domain, AI and Law. Argumentation is central to legal reasoning and there had been a considerable amount of work on it in AI and Law before Dung's paper. It had, however, been rather fragmented. We argue that the abstract argumentation frameworks had a unifying effect by offering a means of relating previously diverse work. We also discuss how the particular demands of legal systems have led to developments building on the basic notions of abstract argumentation.