Help & Annotation Guidelines
Reference guide for sentence-level legal annotations and the review-to-adjudication workflow.
How the review works
1Inspect Original Category
Annotators review each sentence in the legal document alongside its original or model-predicted category.
2Review & Action
Annotators evaluate sentence context and choose to approve the category, decline it, or suggest a corrected label from the schema.
3Admin Adjudication
When annotators disagree on a sentence, an admin adjudicates conflicting inputs into a definitive gold label.
4Export Gold Dataset
Finalized gold labels and reviewed documents are exported for downstream training and evaluation.
Annotation Schema Labels
The schema contains 16 core legal rhetorical categories plus a catch-all category for text outside the taxonomy.
- procedural_history
- Summary of prior court proceedings, procedural milestones, and procedural rulings leading to the current hearing.
- defendant_argument
- Legal arguments, contentions, defenses, or factual claims advanced by the defendant.
- ratio_decidendi
- The binding legal principle, reasoning, or core rule that determines the outcome of the case.
- plaintiff_argument
- Legal claims, factual allegations, or submissions made by the plaintiff or prosecution.
- evidence
- Testimony, exhibits, documentation, or evidentiary material evaluated by the court.
- facts_of_the_case
- The material factual narrative, circumstances, and events that gave rise to the legal dispute.
- applicable_law_and_precedents_cited
- Statutes, constitutional provisions, administrative regulations, and case law precedents referenced by the court.
- court_decision
- The definitive holding, judgment, or formal determination announced by the court.
- parties_involved
- Names, capacities, roles, and status of the litigants or state entities participating in the proceedings.
- remedies_and_orders
- Specific relief granted, monetary damages, injunctions, or sentencing directives ordered by the court.
- obiter_dicta
- Incidental comments, observations, or illustrative remarks made by a judge that are not legally binding.
- question_of_law
- Substantive legal queries or statutory interpretation issues submitted to the court for resolution.
- concurring_opinion
- A separate judicial opinion agreeing with the majority decision but presenting distinct legal reasoning.
- policy_implications
- Discussions regarding the broader societal, institutional, economic, or policy impact of the ruling.
- question_of_fact
- Disputed factual questions requiring judicial determination based on the evidentiary record.
- dissenting_opinion
- A judicial opinion disagreeing with the majority holding and setting forth alternative conclusions.
- other
- Catch-all for sentences or text fragments that fall outside the defined annotation schema.