The revised papers presented in this book are drawn from two meetings devoted to the Semantic Web and the legal domain: The International Workshop on Legal Ontologies and Web-Based Legal Information Management held in Edinburgh, UK in June 2003, and the International Seminar on Law and the Semantic Web, held in Barcelona, Spain in November 2003.

This book presents 15 thoroughly refereed revised papers on topics relevant for law and the Semantic Web. The book is structured into three parts. Part I sets the scene by introducing the relevant concepts, describing some of the users (legal professionals), and putting into historical context how legal professionals think about the use and application of law. Part II presents theoretical aspects related to the construction of legal ontologies, both from a legal and a methodological point of view. Part III collects descriptions of various applications of Semantic Web technology to the legal domain.