In this paper we discuss the role of context and independence in normative reasoning. First, deontic operators { obligations, prohibitions , permissions { referring to the ideal context may connict with operators referring to a violation (or contrary-to-duty) context. Second, deontic independence is a powerful concept to derive deontic operators from such operators of other violation contexts. ...

I argue that, according to ordinary morality, there is moral inertia, that is, moral pressure to fail to intervene in certain circumstances. Moral inertia is manifested in scenarios with a particular causal structure: deflection scenarios, where a threatening or benefiting process is diverted from a group of people to another. I explain why the deflection structure is essential for moral inerti...

In a context in which current prohibitions under the Contempt of Court Act 1981 prevent research into the substantive content of real jury deliberations, the ways in which jurors in criminal trials in England and Wales approach the task of reaching collective verdicts remains the subject of considerable conjecture. This has necessitated the use of simulation studies to replicate as far as possi...

This paper introduces the Ponder language for specifying distributed object enterprise concepts. Ponder, is a declarative language, which permits the specification of policies in terms of obligations, permissions and prohibitions and provides the means for defining roles, relationships and their configurations in nested communities. Ponder provides a concrete representation of most of the conce...

Despite the fact that contracts are, by definition, an agreement between two or more parties, most formal studies limit themselves to contracts regulating only a single party or the parties independently of each other, without looking into how permissions, obligations or prohibitions of one party affect the other. This article deals with the analysis of what different types of permissions mean ...

Islamic finance is a prohibition-driven industry, aiming to avoid the prohibitions of riba and gharar. It is well accepted in Islamic jurisprudence that riba and gharar do not affect the legal validity of non-commutative financial contracts (e.g. gifts). Jurists have long viewed this as a potential solution to the problem of gharar in commercial insurance, proposing mutual insurance as a non-co...

In this paper, we propose a model of constitutive and regulative norms in a logical multiagent framework. We analyze the relationship between these two types of rules and explain similarities between them, using the metaphor of considering social entities like normative systems, groups and organizations as agents and of attributing them mental attitudes as well as an autonomous behavior. We arg...

In a normative system many of the obligations, prohibitions and permissions exist as a result of communication with users and/or other systems. In this paper we will discuss the role of illocutionary logic and deontic logic in modelling these communication processes and the resulting norms. The combination of illocutionary and deontic logic can be used to reason about communication structures. ...

The "Quality Chasm" exists in neonatal intensive care. Despite years of clinical research in neonatology, therapies continue to be underused, overused, or misused. A key concept in crossing the quality chasm is system redesign. The unpredictability of human factors and the dynamic complexity of the neonatal ICU are not amenable to rigid reductionist control and redesign. Change is best accompli...

Individuals convicted of violent misdemeanor crimes are at greatly increased risk for subsequent violence, but may purchase firearms under federal law. Felons may not. This 2013 study re-analyzed data collected in 1999 for 787 violent misdemeanants who purchased handguns in California in 1989 or 1990. Nearly 40% had violent misdemeanor convictions resulting from felony charges and would have be...