Knowledge about implementation of the law: reflections on knowledge representation and the role of the state in making the law work

With good reason, legal positivism insists on a division between legal theory, addressing the sphere of law, and a sociology of power, addressing the sphere of power. The alignment between these spheres is a continuing source of friction, and a driver of change in the sphere of law. Because this dynamic aspect of the legal system has developed into a central problem, in the field of law, in public administration, and in legal knowledge representation, we reflect on the role of the state's contingent implementation of the law, and the scope of the concept of legal knowledge in legal knowledge engineering. Since the subject matter of law is essentially behaviour, a holistic approach to legal knowledge should focus on agents.