Rules, Norms, and Agency: The Struc­ture of Norma­ti­vity in Law and Auto­mated Deci­sion-Making

ADM systems can follow conditional, practise-dependent rules but cannot adhere to deontic, unconditional norms. The argument relies on a three-level architectural framework that traces the origin of rule validity to a fundamental, unconditional norm structure denoted as ‭O(p). The presentation argues that transitioning from a dyadic conditional norm to a material conditional rule inherently involves a “normative substance loss”, i.e. the erasure of the deontic operator. Consequently, human oversight is not merely a risk-mitigation strategy but a strict normative necessity, as human judgment provides the essential deontic access that ADM systems structurally lack.‬‬