Structural Legal Visualization

This paper investigates an approach which is called structural legal visualization (SLV). It is about diagrammatical views which facilitate comprehension of the meaning of legal contents. Complexity reduction is a motive. An issue is the complexity of the entire legal system and the layman’s limited ability to understand legal institutions and the millions of documents. A sequence of views in SLV can be compared with a narrative. SLV differs from information visualization and knowledge visualization. SLV relates to a scenario-centered graphical narrative rather than information display or user interfaces. SLV is about the generation (synthesis) of diagrams. The sequence of images depends on the user’s goals. Different pathways through the informational space are concerned. With respect to an object’s change or non-change, two variations of SLV are identified: dynamic SLV and static SLV. The latter is divided into two: incremental SLV and alternate focuses SLV.