  Most of the knowledge Representation formalisms developed for representing
prescriptive norms can be categorized as either suitable for representing
either low level or high level norms.We argue that low level norm
representations do not advance the cause of autonomy in agents in the sense
that it is not the agent itself that determines the normative position it
should be at a particular time, on the account of a more general rule. In other
words an agent on some external system for a nitty gritty prescriptions of its
obligations and prohibitions. On the other hand, high level norms which have an
explicit description of a norm's precondition and have some form of
implication, do not as they exist in the literature do not support generalized
inferences about violation like low level norm representations do. This paper
presents a logical formalism for the representation of high level norms in open
societies that enable violation inferences that detail the situation in which
the norm violation took place and the identity of the norm violation. Norms are
formalized as logic programs whose heads specify what an agent is obliged or
permitted to do when a situation arises and within what time constraint of the
situation.Each norm is also assigned an identity using some reification scheme.
The body of each logic program describes the nature of the situation in which
the agent is expected to act or desist from acting. This kind of violation is
novel in the literature.
