Brian Flanagan
@lawstuff.bsky.social
School of Law, Maynooth University. Philosophy, law-and-courts.
"Pesky academic" The Guardian;
"Plainly wrong" High Court of Ireland.
"Pesky academic" The Guardian;
"Plainly wrong" High Court of Ireland.
Pinned
Brian Flanagan
@lawstuff.bsky.social
· May 12
Trial by Internet: A Response to Judicial Critics
<p><span>In July 2022, we released a preprint of Chapter 38 of <i>The Cambridge Handbook of Experimental Jurisprudence</i>. In the months that followe
papers.ssrn.com
As reported in the Irish Times this morning, our response to judicial critics of our Wikipedia research: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Reposted by Brian Flanagan
Perhaps the real ‘two tier justice’ is that the foot soldiers who do the racist tweets get jail time, whilst the lieutenants in journalism who write the racist articles and the colonels as editors who spew out the incendiary headlines, and generals who own the papers, just get lots of money.
August 24, 2025 at 10:15 AM
Perhaps the real ‘two tier justice’ is that the foot soldiers who do the racist tweets get jail time, whilst the lieutenants in journalism who write the racist articles and the colonels as editors who spew out the incendiary headlines, and generals who own the papers, just get lots of money.
Reposted by Brian Flanagan
I just posted a new pre-print where I argue that dual character concepts are something new and interesting in legal philosophy and beyond and that they can't be reduced to ambiguity, prototypes, or metalinguistic negotiations. Comments are very welcome! papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
<span>A defense of dual character concepts in legal philosophy and beyond</span><span></span>
Recent work in jurisprudence claimed that central legal concepts, such as that of LEGAL VALIDITY and of a legal RULE have a dual character structure. Moreover,
papers.ssrn.com
July 16, 2025 at 7:44 PM
I just posted a new pre-print where I argue that dual character concepts are something new and interesting in legal philosophy and beyond and that they can't be reduced to ambiguity, prototypes, or metalinguistic negotiations. Comments are very welcome! papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Evidence of Public Acceptance of AI Law Clerks: We investigated how Kenyans evaluate the legitimacy of court decisions when judges rely on AI-generated legal research—versus that of human law clerks. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... 1/
The rule of law or the rule of robots? Nationally representative survey evidence from Kenya
With AI now passing the bar, and with increasing court caseloads worldwide hampering access to justice, there are calls for judges to make use of chatbots to help expedite their work. Such calls po...
www.tandfonline.com
July 16, 2025 at 6:41 PM
Evidence of Public Acceptance of AI Law Clerks: We investigated how Kenyans evaluate the legitimacy of court decisions when judges rely on AI-generated legal research—versus that of human law clerks. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... 1/
There was a time when the death penalty actually made people more likely to offend—at least if they were Irish; h/t Daniel Chen. See my piece in Village:
villagemagazine.ie/deserting-as...
villagemagazine.ie/deserting-as...
Deserting as resistance: the Easter Rising’s impact on the Western Front - Village Magazine
British military justice backfired in the case of Irish ‘Tommies’ By Brian Flanagan School history teaches that World War I’s causes were complex: Nationalism, Militarism, Imperial ambition and declin...
villagemagazine.ie
June 30, 2025 at 2:11 PM
There was a time when the death penalty actually made people more likely to offend—at least if they were Irish; h/t Daniel Chen. See my piece in Village:
villagemagazine.ie/deserting-as...
villagemagazine.ie/deserting-as...
Reposted by Brian Flanagan
A piece in @lawsocietygazette.bsky.social
discusses a report co-authored by Dr Brian Flanagan on the sitting judiciary's attitudes to the technology.
Our research points toward a legal future where AI complements rather than replaces human judgment,' Dr Brian Flanagan
discusses a report co-authored by Dr Brian Flanagan on the sitting judiciary's attitudes to the technology.
Our research points toward a legal future where AI complements rather than replaces human judgment,' Dr Brian Flanagan
‘We can’t have a room of robots’: senior judges reveal thoughts on AI
Academics propose randomised controlled trial to measure effectiveness of technology.
eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com
June 18, 2025 at 1:49 PM
A piece in @lawsocietygazette.bsky.social
discusses a report co-authored by Dr Brian Flanagan on the sitting judiciary's attitudes to the technology.
Our research points toward a legal future where AI complements rather than replaces human judgment,' Dr Brian Flanagan
discusses a report co-authored by Dr Brian Flanagan on the sitting judiciary's attitudes to the technology.
Our research points toward a legal future where AI complements rather than replaces human judgment,' Dr Brian Flanagan
Check out the first qualitative study of judges’ views on AI in law: users.wpi.edu/~esolovey/pa... Our focus groups featured a cross-section of 12 UK judges, including 5 members of the UK Supreme Court. Co-authored with Erin Solovey and Daniel Chen.
users.wpi.edu
June 18, 2025 at 9:46 AM
Check out the first qualitative study of judges’ views on AI in law: users.wpi.edu/~esolovey/pa... Our focus groups featured a cross-section of 12 UK judges, including 5 members of the UK Supreme Court. Co-authored with Erin Solovey and Daniel Chen.
Reposted by Brian Flanagan
Experimental Jurisprudence (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) plato.stanford.edu/entries/expe...
Experimental Jurisprudence (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Experimental jurisprudence (or “X-Jur”) addresses questions of jurisprudence or legal philosophy by complementing traditional philosophical analysis with empirical methods. Often those methods…
plato.stanford.edu
June 11, 2025 at 2:16 PM
Experimental Jurisprudence (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) plato.stanford.edu/entries/expe...
Reposted by Brian Flanagan
Researchers who set the cat among the pigeons when they claimed to have evidence that Wikipedia was influencing judicial decision-making in Ireland have said they stand by their findings.
Fresh fuel poured on debate over Wikipedia influence on judgments
Researchers who set the cat among the pigeons when they claimed to have evidence that Wikipedia was influencing judicial decision-making in Ireland have said they stand by their findings.
www.irishlegal.com
May 13, 2025 at 11:10 AM
Researchers who set the cat among the pigeons when they claimed to have evidence that Wikipedia was influencing judicial decision-making in Ireland have said they stand by their findings.
As reported in the Irish Times this morning, our response to judicial critics of our Wikipedia research: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Trial by Internet: A Response to Judicial Critics
<p><span>In July 2022, we released a preprint of Chapter 38 of <i>The Cambridge Handbook of Experimental Jurisprudence</i>. In the months that followe
papers.ssrn.com
May 12, 2025 at 7:13 AM
As reported in the Irish Times this morning, our response to judicial critics of our Wikipedia research: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
The more empathetic you are, the more you’ll prioritise a rule’s spirit over its letter.
Now out @ Journal of Research in Personality (free until June): authors.elsevier.com/a/1k%7EqWL4L...
We found evidence that trait empathy correlates with purposivism in rule violation judgments. Also: most people share a single concept that seems to have a dual character structure.
We found evidence that trait empathy correlates with purposivism in rule violation judgments. Also: most people share a single concept that seems to have a dual character structure.
April 25, 2025 at 9:47 PM
The more empathetic you are, the more you’ll prioritise a rule’s spirit over its letter.
Reposted by Brian Flanagan
Even accepting the premise that AI produces useful writing (which no one should), using AI in education is like using a forklift at the gym. The weights do not actually need to be moved from place to place. That is not the work. The work is what happens within you.
April 15, 2025 at 2:56 AM
Even accepting the premise that AI produces useful writing (which no one should), using AI in education is like using a forklift at the gym. The weights do not actually need to be moved from place to place. That is not the work. The work is what happens within you.
Reposted by Brian Flanagan
New off the press, will be of particular interest to @philosophy-law.bsky.social, @lawstuff.bsky.social, @anuragdeb.bsky.social and many others
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Legislative Intent and the Hard Problem of Content - Law and Philosophy
The general aim of this paper is to investigate how philosophical problems with the notion of mental content affect the debate about legislative intent. Specifically, the aim is to define and criticiz...
link.springer.com
April 7, 2025 at 10:42 AM
New off the press, will be of particular interest to @philosophy-law.bsky.social, @lawstuff.bsky.social, @anuragdeb.bsky.social and many others
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Thanks for the 'highly recommended' Larry!
Flanagan on Collective Mental Action and Statutes, buff.ly/6VFlRzQ - Brian Flanagan has posted Collective Mental Action: Turning Texts into Statutes on the American Journal of Jurisprudence website.
buff.ly
March 18, 2025 at 10:28 AM
Thanks for the 'highly recommended' Larry!
Reposted by Brian Flanagan
Short thread on the latest paper led by @joseluiz.bsky.social w/ @lawstuff.bsky.social: arxiv.org/abs/2503.00992
The paper addresses two issues w/ previous machine psychology papers (including our own): 1) are LLMs mastering concepts, or are they memorizing the data? 1/14
The paper addresses two issues w/ previous machine psychology papers (including our own): 1) are LLMs mastering concepts, or are they memorizing the data? 1/14
Evidence of conceptual mastery in the application of rules by Large Language Models
In this paper we leverage psychological methods to investigate LLMs' conceptual mastery in applying rules. We introduce a novel procedure to match the diversity of thought generated by LLMs to that ob...
arxiv.org
March 11, 2025 at 9:23 PM
Short thread on the latest paper led by @joseluiz.bsky.social w/ @lawstuff.bsky.social: arxiv.org/abs/2503.00992
The paper addresses two issues w/ previous machine psychology papers (including our own): 1) are LLMs mastering concepts, or are they memorizing the data? 1/14
The paper addresses two issues w/ previous machine psychology papers (including our own): 1) are LLMs mastering concepts, or are they memorizing the data? 1/14
Want to know why legislating is like forgiving? And why policy preferences are of secondary importance? Check out my new paper in the American Journal of Jurisprudence - Collective Mental Action: Turning Texts into Statutes (open access)
academic.oup.com/ajj/advance-...
academic.oup.com/ajj/advance-...
Collective Mental Action: Turning Texts into Statutes
Abstract. How exactly do we know that a text is a law? This paper argues that purely legalistic explanations are inadequate because they do not explain why
academic.oup.com
March 6, 2025 at 5:55 PM
Want to know why legislating is like forgiving? And why policy preferences are of secondary importance? Check out my new paper in the American Journal of Jurisprudence - Collective Mental Action: Turning Texts into Statutes (open access)
academic.oup.com/ajj/advance-...
academic.oup.com/ajj/advance-...
New paper with @joseluiz.bsky.social and @almeida2808.bsky.social showing that AI possesses the concept of rule. We find that generative AI emulates how humans apply rules to novel situations in which a rule's letter and spirit conflict. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Evidence of conceptual mastery in the application of rules by Large Language Models
In this paper we leverage psychological methods to investigate LLMs' conceptual mastery in applying rules. We introduce a novel procedure to match the diversity
papers.ssrn.com
March 3, 2025 at 3:22 PM
New paper with @joseluiz.bsky.social and @almeida2808.bsky.social showing that AI possesses the concept of rule. We find that generative AI emulates how humans apply rules to novel situations in which a rule's letter and spirit conflict. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Reposted by Brian Flanagan
In an ideal world, we would protect young people from accessing dangerous or harmful material, but increasingly, that isn't possible.
That's why in our Advanced Issues in Legal Philosophy class, @lawstuff.bsky.social and I let students encounter legal positivism in a controlled, safe environment.
That's why in our Advanced Issues in Legal Philosophy class, @lawstuff.bsky.social and I let students encounter legal positivism in a controlled, safe environment.
February 13, 2025 at 7:29 AM
In an ideal world, we would protect young people from accessing dangerous or harmful material, but increasingly, that isn't possible.
That's why in our Advanced Issues in Legal Philosophy class, @lawstuff.bsky.social and I let students encounter legal positivism in a controlled, safe environment.
That's why in our Advanced Issues in Legal Philosophy class, @lawstuff.bsky.social and I let students encounter legal positivism in a controlled, safe environment.
Empathy reveals the law’s spirit.
Now the #ExperimentalPhilosophy Society session!
@almeida2808.bsky.social presented #xJur data with @lawstuff.bsky.social and Ivar Hannikainen: "Trait #Empathy Predicts Purposivist Rule Application"
Results in image #altText
#openAccess preprint: dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn...
#xPhi #law #textualism
@almeida2808.bsky.social presented #xJur data with @lawstuff.bsky.social and Ivar Hannikainen: "Trait #Empathy Predicts Purposivist Rule Application"
Results in image #altText
#openAccess preprint: dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn...
#xPhi #law #textualism
January 10, 2025 at 8:48 AM
Empathy reveals the law’s spirit.
Disruptive passengers beware my legal analysis: www.rte.ie/news/ireland...
Ryanair seeks €15k in damages from disruptive passenger
Ryanair has said a civil action filed against a passenger is part of a zero-tolerance policy on unruly behaviour on its aircraft and it warned it will not be the last time it sues somebody for causing...
www.rte.ie
January 9, 2025 at 10:56 AM
Disruptive passengers beware my legal analysis: www.rte.ie/news/ireland...
Wait, neither Hercules nor the snail darter existed? www.nytimes.com/2025/01/03/s...
This Tiny Fish’s Mistaken Identity Halted a Dam’s Construction
Scientists say the snail darter, whose endangered species status delayed the building of a dam in Tennessee in the 1970s, is a genetic match of a different fish.
www.nytimes.com
January 7, 2025 at 9:52 AM
Wait, neither Hercules nor the snail darter existed? www.nytimes.com/2025/01/03/s...
Reposted by Brian Flanagan
Seeing ppl talk abt the “Feb submission cycle” for law reviews, so just want to point out that no other academic field forces ppl to finish their papers in sync w graduation calendars, bc no other field delegates assessing publishability to students w 2 yrs of (often inapplicable) study.
January 2, 2025 at 11:44 PM
Seeing ppl talk abt the “Feb submission cycle” for law reviews, so just want to point out that no other academic field forces ppl to finish their papers in sync w graduation calendars, bc no other field delegates assessing publishability to students w 2 yrs of (often inapplicable) study.
'Looking at foreign law for support is like looking out over a crowd and picking out your friends.' Europe feels the US Supreme Court love again.
Kavanaugh also brings up "detransitioners," people who "regret" their decision to transition genders. Like Alito, he cites European countries that are "pulling back" from gender-affirming care for minors, saying it's a "yellow light" or "red light" for the court that Europe is "pumping the brakes."
December 4, 2024 at 4:34 PM
'Looking at foreign law for support is like looking out over a crowd and picking out your friends.' Europe feels the US Supreme Court love again.
‘A Dilemma for Proceduralist Theories of Democracy’ published open access in the American Journal of Jurisprudence today! I argue (prove) that thin accounts of democracy either exclude familiar strands of representative democracy or admit elective autocracies. doi.org/10.1093/ajj/...
A Dilemma for Proceduralist Theories of Democracy: Elected Delegates or Elected Monarchs?
Abstract. Emphasizing the intrinsic value of formal political equality, a prominent strand of democratic theory—proceduralism—sharply disassociates democra
doi.org
November 29, 2024 at 9:04 PM
‘A Dilemma for Proceduralist Theories of Democracy’ published open access in the American Journal of Jurisprudence today! I argue (prove) that thin accounts of democracy either exclude familiar strands of representative democracy or admit elective autocracies. doi.org/10.1093/ajj/...
Agreed.
Everything Tim said. I think law school assessments in Anglo-American institutions must quickly abandon coursework-type assessments and pivot (back) to in-person exams or oral examinations (like we have been doing in the European continent for ages).
I'm currently marking Law of the Sea take home exams and as an experiment asked ChatGPT if it could answer the question.
It produced a perfectly acceptable (if not brilliant) response to a carefully drafted question requiring a technical answer, rather than the guff which AI often produces.
🧵 1/5
It produced a perfectly acceptable (if not brilliant) response to a carefully drafted question requiring a technical answer, rather than the guff which AI often produces.
🧵 1/5
November 27, 2024 at 10:34 AM
Agreed.
X-Jur has arrived -
I couldn't help myself.
November 18, 2024 at 8:29 PM
X-Jur has arrived -