What question did this study set out to answer?

To evaluate if generative AI can identify case-law potentially weakened by the Revocation Act 2023.

January 26, 2026Statute Law Review0 citations

Can generative artificial intelligence identify case-law rendered vulnerable by the Revocation Act 2023?

Key Points

To evaluate if generative AI can identify case-law potentially weakened by the Revocation Act 2023.
Used ChatGPT-4o to analyze judgments where EU law influences domestic case-law.
Developed specific prompts to test the model's ability to distinguish legal reasoning effects.
Calculated reliability based on accurate distinctions made by the AI.
Achieved over 90% reliability in distinguishing relevant judgments.
Indicated potential for AI to assist in assessing legal risks and vulnerabilities.
Demonstrated the efficacy of LLMs in analyzing complex legal frameworks.

Abstract

Abstract Parts of domestic UK case-law rely in one way or another on European Union (EU) law. The authority of such precedent has potentially been greatly diminished by the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023. This study investigates whether the Large Language Model (LLM) ChatGPT-4o is capable of reliably distinguishing judgments where the ratio turns on direct effect or conforming interpretation from those where it does not. It finds that, given a specific prompt, ChatGPT masters the task with a reliability of more than 90 per cent. This result may be an indicator that LLMs can, more broadly, play a productive role in the legal field for the purpose of identifying risks and weaknesses in legal reasoning.

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