Are There Cross-Cultural Legal Principles? Modal Reasoning Uncovers Procedural Constraints on Law

Ivar R. Hannikainen; Kevin P. Tobia; Guilherme da F.C.F. de Almeida; Raff Donelson; Vilius Dranseika; Markus Kneer; Niek Strohmaier; Piotr Bystranowski; Kristina Dolinina; Bartosz Janik; Sothie Keo; Eglė Lauraitytė; Alice Liefgreen; Maciej Próchnicki; Alejandro Rosas; Noel Struchiner

doi:10.1111/cogs.13024

Are There Cross-Cultural Legal Principles? Modal Reasoning Uncovers Procedural Constraints on Law

Ivar R. Hannikainen, Kevin P. Tobia, Guilherme da F.C.F. de Almeida, Raff Donelson, Vilius Dranseika, Markus Kneer, Niek Strohmaier, Piotr Bystranowski, Kristina Dolinina, Bartosz Janik, Sothie Keo, Eglė Lauraitytė, Alice Liefgreen, Maciej Próchnicki, Alejandro Rosas, Noel Struchiner

Dickinson Law (Carlisle)

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

22 Scopus citations

Abstract

Despite pervasive variation in the content of laws, legal theorists and anthropologists have argued that laws share certain abstract features and even speculated that law may be a human universal. In the present report, we evaluate this thesis through an experiment administered in 11 different countries. Are there cross-cultural principles of law? In a between-subjects design, participants (N = 3,054) were asked whether there could be laws that violate certain procedural principles (e.g., laws applied retrospectively or unintelligible laws), and also whether there are any such laws. Confirming our preregistered prediction, people reported that such laws cannot exist, but also (paradoxically) that there are such laws. These results document cross-culturally and –linguistically robust beliefs about the concept of law which defy people's grasp of how legal systems function in practice.

Original language	English (US)
Article number	e13024
Journal	Cognitive Science
Volume	45
Issue number	8
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/cogs.13024
State	Published - Aug 2021

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Cognitive Neuroscience
Artificial Intelligence

Access to Document

10.1111/cogs.13024

Cite this

Hannikainen, I. R., Tobia, K. P., de Almeida, G. D. F. C. F., Donelson, R., Dranseika, V., Kneer, M., Strohmaier, N., Bystranowski, P., Dolinina, K., Janik, B., Keo, S., Lauraitytė, E., Liefgreen, A., Próchnicki, M., Rosas, A., & Struchiner, N. (2021). Are There Cross-Cultural Legal Principles? Modal Reasoning Uncovers Procedural Constraints on Law. Cognitive Science, 45(8), Article e13024. https://doi.org/10.1111/cogs.13024

@article{b5de5f4752ec459eb072294244008937,

title = "Are There Cross-Cultural Legal Principles? Modal Reasoning Uncovers Procedural Constraints on Law",

abstract = "Despite pervasive variation in the content of laws, legal theorists and anthropologists have argued that laws share certain abstract features and even speculated that law may be a human universal. In the present report, we evaluate this thesis through an experiment administered in 11 different countries. Are there cross-cultural principles of law? In a between-subjects design, participants (N = 3,054) were asked whether there could be laws that violate certain procedural principles (e.g., laws applied retrospectively or unintelligible laws), and also whether there are any such laws. Confirming our preregistered prediction, people reported that such laws cannot exist, but also (paradoxically) that there are such laws. These results document cross-culturally and –linguistically robust beliefs about the concept of law which defy people's grasp of how legal systems function in practice.",

author = "Hannikainen, {Ivar R.} and Tobia, {Kevin P.} and {de Almeida}, {Guilherme da F.C.F.} and Raff Donelson and Vilius Dranseika and Markus Kneer and Niek Strohmaier and Piotr Bystranowski and Kristina Dolinina and Bartosz Janik and Sothie Keo and Eglė Lauraitytė and Alice Liefgreen and Maciej Pr{\'o}chnicki and Alejandro Rosas and Noel Struchiner",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021 The Authors. Cognitive Science published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Cognitive Science Society (CSS).",

year = "2021",

month = aug,

doi = "10.1111/cogs.13024",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "45",

journal = "Cognitive Science",

issn = "0364-0213",

publisher = "Wiley-Blackwell",

number = "8",

}

Hannikainen, IR, Tobia, KP, de Almeida, GDFCF, Donelson, R, Dranseika, V, Kneer, M, Strohmaier, N, Bystranowski, P, Dolinina, K, Janik, B, Keo, S, Lauraitytė, E, Liefgreen, A, Próchnicki, M, Rosas, A & Struchiner, N 2021, 'Are There Cross-Cultural Legal Principles? Modal Reasoning Uncovers Procedural Constraints on Law', Cognitive Science, vol. 45, no. 8, e13024. https://doi.org/10.1111/cogs.13024

TY - JOUR

T1 - Are There Cross-Cultural Legal Principles? Modal Reasoning Uncovers Procedural Constraints on Law

AU - Hannikainen, Ivar R.

AU - Tobia, Kevin P.

AU - de Almeida, Guilherme da F.C.F.

AU - Donelson, Raff

AU - Dranseika, Vilius

AU - Kneer, Markus

AU - Strohmaier, Niek

AU - Bystranowski, Piotr

AU - Dolinina, Kristina

AU - Janik, Bartosz

AU - Keo, Sothie

AU - Lauraitytė, Eglė

AU - Liefgreen, Alice

AU - Próchnicki, Maciej

AU - Rosas, Alejandro

AU - Struchiner, Noel

PY - 2021/8

Y1 - 2021/8

N2 - Despite pervasive variation in the content of laws, legal theorists and anthropologists have argued that laws share certain abstract features and even speculated that law may be a human universal. In the present report, we evaluate this thesis through an experiment administered in 11 different countries. Are there cross-cultural principles of law? In a between-subjects design, participants (N = 3,054) were asked whether there could be laws that violate certain procedural principles (e.g., laws applied retrospectively or unintelligible laws), and also whether there are any such laws. Confirming our preregistered prediction, people reported that such laws cannot exist, but also (paradoxically) that there are such laws. These results document cross-culturally and –linguistically robust beliefs about the concept of law which defy people's grasp of how legal systems function in practice.

AB - Despite pervasive variation in the content of laws, legal theorists and anthropologists have argued that laws share certain abstract features and even speculated that law may be a human universal. In the present report, we evaluate this thesis through an experiment administered in 11 different countries. Are there cross-cultural principles of law? In a between-subjects design, participants (N = 3,054) were asked whether there could be laws that violate certain procedural principles (e.g., laws applied retrospectively or unintelligible laws), and also whether there are any such laws. Confirming our preregistered prediction, people reported that such laws cannot exist, but also (paradoxically) that there are such laws. These results document cross-culturally and –linguistically robust beliefs about the concept of law which defy people's grasp of how legal systems function in practice.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85113380614&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85113380614&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1111/cogs.13024

DO - 10.1111/cogs.13024

M3 - Article

C2 - 34379347

AN - SCOPUS:85113380614

SN - 0364-0213

VL - 45

JO - Cognitive Science

JF - Cognitive Science

IS - 8

M1 - e13024

ER -

Are There Cross-Cultural Legal Principles? Modal Reasoning Uncovers Procedural Constraints on Law

Abstract

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this