<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p> The authors propose a novel quantitative method to analyse the structure of legal texts. The method enables to determine grammatical similarity between legal texts. The authors use the external theory of fundamental rights to separate the text of fundamental rights of the Estonian Constitution into two categories of norms: constitutional rights and restrictions. Grammatical similarity between constitutional rights, restrictions and selected legal acts and case law is measured. The layer of special norms renders the best grammatical similarity with the text of fundamental rights. The same grammatical similarity tests can be replicated to cover other jurisdictions in the future. The research is experimental, but the authors believe that the method can be utilised in fields of computational linguistics and legal text mining, but also in research where legal text structures are analysed for various purposes.</p></abstract>

The authors propose a novel quantitative method to analyse the structure of legal texts. The method enables to determine grammatical similarity between legal texts. The authors use the external theory of fundamental rights to separate the text of fundamental rights of the Estonian Constitution into two categories of norms: constitutional rights and restrictions. Grammatical similarity between constitutional rights, restrictions and selected legal acts and case law is measured. The layer of special norms renders the best grammatical similarity with the text of fundamental rights. The same grammatical similarity tests can be replicated to cover other jurisdictions in the future. The research is experimental, but the authors believe that the method can be utilised in fields of computational linguistics and legal text mining, but also in research where legal text structures are analysed for various purposes.

A Structural and Grammatical Analysis of the Estonian Constitution

Tallinn Law School, Tallinn University of Technology Akadeemia tee 15A, Tallinn 12618,

Institute of Computer Science, University of Tartu J. Liivi 2, Tartu 50409,

Institute of Informatics, Tallinn University of Technology Akadeemia tee 15A, Tallinn 12618,

TalTech Journal of European Studies

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

{"article-title":"A Structural and Grammatical Analysis of the Estonian Constitution"}

The authors propose a novel quantitative method to analyse the structure of legal texts. The method enables to determine grammatical similarity between legal...

A Structural and Grammatical Analysis of the Estonian Constitution

Published Online: Oct 20, 2016

Page range: 76 - 95

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/bjes-2016-0013

Keywords
chi-square test, complexity of constitutional text, grammar of legal text, interpretation of norms, Mosteller’s comparison method, structure of norms

© by Addi Rull

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

A Structural and Grammatical Analysis of the Estonian Constitution

Published Online: Oct 20, 2016

Page range: 76 - 95

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/bjes-2016-0013

Keywordschi-square test, complexity of constitutional text, grammar of legal text, interpretation of norms, Mosteller’s comparison method, structure of norms

© by Addi Rull

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Keywords
chi-square test, complexity of constitutional text, grammar of legal text, interpretation of norms, Mosteller’s comparison method, structure of norms