It is argued that there are many concepts and methods in common between policy systems used in Information Technology and Jurisprudence, i.e. legal theory. These concepts are found in the research area of 'normative systems' which encompasses them and provides a framework for unifying research. It is further argued that advantages can be accrued to both research areas by favoring interchanges of methods and principles in this unifying framework. A distinction is made between norms in rule style and norms in requirements style. Issues of completeness, consistency and conflicts are considered. Concepts that are useful in this research area include defeasible logic and ontologies. Useful tools are theorem provers and model checkers.