
Open access
Author
Date
2021-06Type
- Journal Article
Abstract
We study the language of legal codes from different countries and legal traditions, using concepts from physics, algorithmic complexity theory and information theory. We show that vocabulary entropy, which measures the diversity of the author’s choice of words, in combination with the compression factor, which is derived from a lossless compression algorithm and measures the redundancy present in a text, is well suited for separating different writing styles in different languages, in particular also legal language. We show that different types of (legal) text, e.g. acts, regulations or literature, are located in distinct regions of the complexity-entropy plane, spanned by the information and complexity measure. This two-dimensional approach already gives new insights into the drafting style and structure of statutory texts and complements other methods. Show more
Permanent link
https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000491068Publication status
publishedExternal links
Journal / series
Frontiers in PhysicsVolume
Pages / Article No.
Publisher
Frontiers MediaSubject
Information theory; Complex systems; Linguistics; Legal theory; Algorithmic complexity theory; Lossless compression algorithms; Shannon entropyMore
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