First steps towards a formal analysis of law

In this paper, the authors present some work recently done within the Dutch Immigration and Naturalization Service (IND). Being responsible for the implementation and execution of complex and ever changing regulations, for which the use of IT systems is a necessity, this organization has become aware of their dependence on trustworthy methods to assure the correct implementation of law into their operations and services. While many attempts to automate law, even in the domain of migration law, have been made before, hardly any attention has been paid to the ‘translation process’ from legal rules expressed in natural language to specifications in computer executable form. In this paper, we will explain the method we have developed and illustrate its application with some concrete examples. The work is part of a larger innovation programme initiative that we collaboratively conduct within a virtual collaboration, called the ‘Blue Chamber’.