Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
Regulatory disharmony in the division of authority between central and local governments may arise from overlapping provisions, inconsistencies in regulatory hierarchy, and differences in legal interpretation. This article develops a conceptual framework for the use of Natural Language Processing (NLP) and knowledge graphs to support the preliminary examination of potential disharmony through normative legal research. The analysis employs statutory and conceptual approaches, focusing on the hierarchy of laws and regulations, the division of governmental affairs, and the principles of lex superior, lex specialis, and lex posterior. It proposes a conceptual classification of relationships between legal norms as consistent, overlapping, or conflicting. NLP is positioned as a tool for locating relevant provisions, extracting legal entities, and identifying cross-references, while a knowledge graph can represent relationships among regulations, institutions, governmental affairs, authority, and temporal validity. The article argues that textual similarity cannot independently establish legal conflict; assessment requires examination of substantive content, competence, hierarchy, delegation, and the period of validity of each norm. Because this study is normative and conceptual, it does not report a developed prototype or empirical model-performance results. Its contribution is a preliminary analytical framework to guide future implementation and expert validation, while preserving legal interpretation as the responsibility of qualified human reviewers.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Pininta et al. (2026) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 10 related papers. Consider them for comparative context: