# Explainability by design: an experimental analysis of the legal coding process

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.01944 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.01944/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 0 of its 32 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 3 May 2025.

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [Toward Robust Legal Text Formalization into Defeasible Deontic Logic using LLMs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.08899/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Behind a set of rules in Deontic Defeasible Logic, there is a mapping process of normative background fragments. This process goes from text to rules and implicitly encompasses an explanation of the coded fragments. In this paper we deliver a methodology for textitlegal coding that starts with a fragment and goes onto a set of Deontic Defeasible Logic rules, involving a set of textitscenarios to test the correctness of the coded fragments. The methodology is illustrated by the coding process of an example text. We then show the results of a series of experiments conducted with humans encoding a variety of normative backgrounds and corresponding cases in which we have measured the efforts made in the coding process, as related to some measurable features. To process these examples, a recently developed technology, Houdini, that allows reasoning in Deontic Defeasible Logic, has been employed. Finally we provide a technique to forecast time required in coding, that depends on factors such as knowledge of the legal domain, knowledge of the coding processes, length of the text, and a measure of textitdepth that refers to the length of the paths of legal references.