1.1. Motivation

Supremo Tribunal de Justiça (STJ)[MinisterioPPortugal] represents the highest judiciary court in Portugal, Portugal’s Supreme Court of Justice. For a decision to be made on a specific case, a vast consultation on the pertaining jurisprudence is required. This extensive consult is a foundation for a well-thought, legal and moral decision that will impact that case and others that may come in the future.

When a judge needs to formulate a decision, either through searching specific legislation or passages on similar cases, the overall process of finding that information is not trivial, fast or practical.

The court decision process could be improved based on a search system that would help retrieve the desired information and identify that information source. Even though traditional lexical techniques could be implemented to solve this need, they might raise other issues. Using lexical techniques in a search system can only retrieve so much information that might include only some cases or sections of legislation that are relevant to that specific instance. A search system that utilizes semantic techniques is essential to reach a broader range of relevant documents.

A country’s judiciary system should resist bad decisions due incomplete or inaccurate information. The occurrence of such events opens the door to unjust precedents in future cases, thus leading to imbalances in the overall decision-making performed at court, which ultimately leads to the weakening and destabilization of the justice system. Establishing a reliable legal search system is necessary since it promotes consistency in applying the law.