The theory of joining-systems

Abstract. The theory of joining-systems (TJS), as developed in this chapter, consists of three main parts, developed after the infor- mal introduction and overview in Sections 1 and 2. One part (Section 3) is the abstract theory of joining-systems, providing the framework for the subsequent analysis. Two other parts introduce those concepts and results of the theory that are in focus for the representation of normative systems. The rest of these parts (Section 4) presents the model of condition implication structures (cis's) as applied to well- known issues in legal theory. In the second part (Section 5), the cis model of TJS is applied to a comprehensive new eld, namely the theory of \intervenients". In a developed normative system, interve- nient concepts serve as vehicles of inference for going from ultimate descriptive grounds to ultimate deontic consequences. Among the issues dealt with are: Boolean compounds of intervenients, interve- nients as organic wholes, narrowing or widening of intervenients, the typology of various kinds of intervenient minimality