Summer School on Law and Logic

The Summer School on Law and Logic is being held for its eleventh year, from June 30th to the 5th of July 2025. This course is designed to give students rigorous training in a wide variety of logical methods that can assist all kinds of legal analysts, including students, lawyers, judges and scholars. The overall framework for the course is the Logocratic Method, a systematic method for assessing the strengths and weaknesses of arguments, including, but not limited to, legal arguments. Since so much legal analysis consists of making and evaluating arguments, this method can be a powerful tool for all legal analysts.

On the right-side menu, you can find a short description of the courses and the relevant contacts.

For further information on the venue of the conference (Badia Fiesolana), please see the EUI website.

How to Apply to Law and Logic Summer School 2025

Applications for the Law & Logic Summer School 2024 are now closed. Applications for the 2025 school should open in late January/early February.

You must submit your application and upload your CV and transcripts of your degrees via the interactive online application form. You need to:

1. Register and insert your personal details
2. Complete and submit your application

Once you have registered, you may continue to work on your application. Submit the application only when you have filled in all the information correctly and have successfully uploaded your CV and transcripts of your degrees.

After your application is evaluated, if you are admitted to the summer school, you will receive an acceptance email. After you receive the acceptance email, you can register for the course by following the instructions in that message.

The maximum number of participants is 30. We will create a reserve list and notify students in that list if any places open up after our initial admission of candidates.

If you have questions about the program, including whether it fits your other programs of study, please contact [email protected].

Every day of the course, except for the final day, will have four sessions, lasting 1:30h each. Between each session, there will be a 30-minute break. The table below shows the start and end times of each session, specified in Florence time (CEST).

First morning session: Begins 9:00 AM - Ends 10:30 AM

Second morning session: Begins 11:00 AM - Ends 12:30 PM

Lunch: Begins 12:30 PM - Ends 14:00 PM

First afternoon session: Begins 14:00 PM - Ends 15:30 PM

Second afternoon session: Begins 16:00 PM - Ends 17:30 PM

On the final day of the summer school, Saturday, there will be a special schedule in order to present certificates of attendance and to accommodate those who will be leaving early. The two afternoon sessions will be replaced by a single closing session, meaning activities end at 15:30 CEST on Saturday.

First morning session: Begins 9:00 AM - Ends 10:30 AM

Second morning session: Begins 11:00 AM - Ends 12:30 PM

Lunch: Begins 12:30 PM - Ends 14:00 PM

Closing session - Certificates of Attendance:  Begins 14:00 PM - Ends 15:30 PM

The readings for the Summer School will be shared with the selected participants before the school begins.

Each lecture day will be composed of four 90-minute sessions, with 30-minute breaks between sessions and a 90-minute lunch break after the second session. All times below are presented in Florence time (CEST).

[The programme is subject to change]

Day 1 — Monday, 30 June

• 08:30-09:00 Registration

• 09:00-10:30 Session 1.1.1: Introduction: Perceptions of cooperation and clash of logic and law – opening thoughts about the utilities of logic for law – Basic definitions and methods of the Logocratic Method (Scott Brewer)
• 11:00-12:30 Session 1.1.2: Logic and Argumentation (Giovanni Sartor)
• 14:00-15:30 Session 1.2.1: Introduction to propositional logic: Part 1 (Juliano Maranhão)
• 16:00-17:30 Session 1.2.2: Introduction to propositional logic: Part 2 (Juliano Maranhão)

Day 2 — Tuesday, 1 July

• 09:00-10:30 Session 2.1.1: Review of basic concepts and exercises on propositional logic: Part 1 (Juliano Maranhão)
• 11:00-12:30 Session 2.1.2: Review of basic concepts and exercises on propositional logic: Part 2 (Juliano Maranhão)
• 14:00-15:30 Session 2.2.1: Representing legal rules and legal arguments in propositional logic (common law) (Scott Brewer)
• 16:00-17:30 Session 2.2.2: Representing legal rules and legal arguments in propositional logic (civil law) (Matthias Armgardt)

Day 3 — Wednesday, 2 July

• 09:00-10:30 Session 3.1.1: From propositional to predicate logic: grammar and basic structure (Nino Rotolo)
• 11:00-12:30 Session 3.1.2: From propositional to predicate logic: semantics and relations (Nino Rotolo)
• 14:00-15:30 Session 3.2.1: Modelling the law in predicate logic (Nino Rotolo)
• 16:00-17:30 Session 3.2.2: Revision of basic concepts and exercises on predicate logic (Nino Rotolo)
• Evening: Social Dinner

Day 4 — Thursday, 3 July

• 09:00-10:30 Session 4.1.1: Argumentation and argument schemes (Giovanni Sartor)
• 11:00-12:30 Session 4.1.2: Formalising argumentation / Burdens of proof and presumptions (Giovanni Sartor)
• 14:00-15:30 Session 4.1.3: Case-based reasoning (factors and dimensions): Part 1
• 16:00-17:30 Session 4.1.4: Case-based reasoning (factors and dimensions): Part 2

Day 5 — Friday, 4 July

• 09:00-10:30 Session 5.1.1: Case-based reasoning (analogy): Part 1 (Scott Brewer)
• 11:00-12:30 Session 5.1.2: Deontic logic: Part 1, Introduction (Giovanni Sartor)
• 14:00-15:30 Session 5.2.1: Deontic logic: Part 2, Hohfeld's analysis (Rūta Liepiņa)
• 16:00-17:30 Session 5.2.2: Deontic logic: Part 3, Advanced deontic logic (Emiliano Lorini)

Day 6 — Saturday, 5 July

• 09:00-10:30 Session 6.1.1: Case-based reasoning (analogy): Part 2 (Scott Brewer)
• 11:00-12:30 Session 6.1.2: Induction: generalisation and specification Inference to the best explanation / Abduction (Scott Brewer)
• 14:00-15:30 Session 6.2.1: Closing session: Presentation of Certificates of Attendance

Registration fee
The selected candidates will be sent a link to register online for the Course.

Participation Fee

Onsite: 600 euros
online: 400 euros

The registration fee includes e-learning materials, lunches, coffee breaks, and the Social Dinner.

For further information, please send an e-mail to our organization team: [email protected].

Accommodation, travel and additional daily expenses are not included in the registration fee.