Open access to law in developing countries (originally published in December 2004)

First Monday ◽  
2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Poulin
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Open Access ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Free Access ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Legal Information ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Context Free

Securing a widespread and, whenever possible, free, access to legal information has become important everywhere. Open access has higher stakes in developing countries where access to law is often difficult. In this particular context, free access to statutes and case law could significantly contribute to a better establishment of the rule of law and an overall consolidation of national legal institutions. Never before have better conditions existed for a wider circulation of law. The Internet and related technologies have dramatically revolutionized the possibilities of cheaply providing high–quality, low–cost access to national legal documentation. In this article, elements of a strategy aimed at developing open access to law in developing countries are put forth.

Law Via the Internet 2015 Conference

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 265-269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Glenda Browne
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
General Public ◽  
The Internet ◽  
User Needs ◽  
Free Access ◽  
Document Collections ◽  
Legal Information ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
New Information

AbstractFree access to public legal information for the general public and professionals promotes justice and the rule of law. Presenters at the 2015 Law via the Internet conference discussed projects using the power of technology combined with expert human input to make information accessible, and to extract new information from large document collections. Although the scale is different, there are similarities in the ways in which indexers and informaticians explore meaning, develop standards and consider user needs to make information widely accessible. Glenda Browne reports on the conference.*

Building Free Access to Law in Africa: Some Examples of Successful Projects

2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 290-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth Ward
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Open Access ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Free Access ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Great Transparency ◽  
The Law ◽  
Developed World ◽  
Trade And Investment

AbstractRuth Ward explains how open access to legislation in Africa is a much more recent development than in the developed world. Several recently launched projects are well underway, and are contributing towards promoting justice and the rule of law in Africa. Access to legislation facilitates great transparency and access to the law for the promotion of trade and investment; and supports the resulting economic development on the continent. Several different approaches to establishing projects which deliver reliable consolidated access to legislation are illustrated, and show that successful projects can be established and maintained on modest budgets by very small teams.

scholarly journals Computer aided anonymization and redaction of judicial documents

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 217-236 ◽  
Author(s):  
Goran Sladic ◽  
Stevan Gostojic ◽  
Branko Milosavljevic ◽  
Zora Konjovic ◽  
Gordana Milosavljevic
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Control Mechanism ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Public Access ◽  
Legal Certainty ◽  
Legal Information ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Xml Documents ◽  
Computer Aided ◽  
Access Control Mechanism

Public access to case law is a required prerequisite for the legal certainty and the rule of law. Nevertheless, according to the law, only authorized persons can access judgments in their non-anonymized and unredacted form. This paper proposes a computer aided method for anonymization and redaction of judgments, with an aim to improve efficiency of overall process. The anonymization and redaction procedure is based on the access control mechanism for XML documents. AKOMA NTOSO is chosen as an XML format in order to facilitate integration with other (legal) information systems, but the proposed method can be easily adapted to different document types and different XML formats. The method is verified by a prototype implementation which is validated by employees in a court of law.

THE STATE OF OPEN ACCESS ADOPTION IN LEGAL SCHOLARLY COMMUNICATION: AN ANALYSIS OF SELECTED OPEN ACCESS RESOURCES

Mousaion ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-100
Author(s):  
Solomon Bopape
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Open Access ◽  
Open Access Publishing ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Free Access ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
Legal Information ◽  
Scholarly Literature ◽  
Open Access Resources ◽  
The Right

The study of law focuses, among other aspects, on important issues relating to equality, fairness and justice in as far as free access to information and knowledgeis concerned. The launching of the Open Access to Law Movement in 1992, the promulgation of the Durham Statement on Open Access to Legal Scholarshipin 2009, and the formation of national and regional Legal Information Institutes (LIIs) should serve as an indication of how well the legal world is committed to freely publishing and distributing legal information and knowledge through the Internet to legal practitioners, legal scholars and the public at large aroundthe world. In order to establish the amount of legal scholarly content which is accessible through open access publishing innovations and initiatives, this studyanalysed the contents of websites for selected open access resources on the Internet internationally and in South Africa. The results of the study showed that there has been a steady developing trend towards the adoption of open access for legal scholarly literature internationally, while in South Africa legal scholarly literature is under the control of commercial publishers. This should be an issue for the legal scholarship which, among its focus, is to impart knowledge about the right of access to information and knowledge.

In Search of a Standard: References to the Rule of Law in the Case-law of the European Court of Human Rights

ICL Journal ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-69
Author(s):  
Eszter Polgári
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Council Of Europe ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Working Definition ◽  
European Court ◽  
Structured Analysis ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Grand Chamber

AbstractThe present article maps the explicit references to the rule of law in the jurisprudence of the ECtHR by examining the judgments of the Grand Chamber and the Plenary Court. On the basis of the structured analysis it seeks to identify the constitutive elements of the Court’s rule of law concept and contrast it with the author’s working definition and the position of other Council of Europe organs. The review of the case-law indicates that the Court primarily associates the rule of law with access to court, judicial safeguards, legality and democracy, and it follows a moderately thick definition of the concept including formal, procedural and some substantive elements. The rule of law references are predominantly ancillary arguments giving weight to other Convention-based considerations and it is not applied as a self-standing standard.

Open Access Order and Interconnected Institutions in Brazil: A Challenge

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-40
Author(s):  
Guanghua Yu
Keyword(s):  
Open Access ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Political Organizations ◽  
Historical Evidence ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Rights Protection ◽  
Economic Organizations ◽  
Property Rights Protection

AbstractThis article examines the evolution of democratic practice in Brazil. The article begins with a discussion on the country’s performance in terms of social equality, violence, and weak economy after the consolidation of democracy in 1985. Based on historical evidence, the article offers explanations concerning the weak performance in Brazil. The case of Brazil provides a challenge to the theory of open access order of North and his colleagues in the sense that open access to political organizations and activities does not necessarily lead to either better political representation or better economic performance. The case of Brazil also shows that open access to economic organizations and activities in the absence of the necessary institutions in the areas of property rights protection and contract enforcement, the financial market, the rule of law, and human resources accumulation does not lead to long-term economic growth.

INTER ARMA SILENT LEGES (NOTAS SOBRE DEL DERECHO DE EXCEPCIÓN)

2010 ◽  
pp. 285-294
Author(s):  
JOSÉ MANUEL CASTELLS ARTECHE
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
United States Supreme Court ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Court Case ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Current Economic Crisis ◽  
Supreme Court Case ◽  
Emergency Measures ◽  
Structural Point

Se hace notar que en situaciones de excepción, sea en un aspecto coyuntural (la actual crisis económica), sea estructural (las medidas de emergencia justificadas en razones de necesidad), se afecta normalmente aunque no necesariamente a los principios propios de un Estado de Derecho. Se aportan ejemplos de la realidad actual o de momentos claves de la jurisprudencia del Tribunal Supremo de los Estados Unidos de Norteamérica. Salbuespeneko egoeretan, dela egoera koiunturala (egungo krisi ekonomikoa), dela egiturazkoa (premiagatik justifikatuta dauden larrialdiko neurriak), gehienetan, baina ez beti, Zuzenbide Estatutuaren printzipio funtsezkoetara jotzen da. Ameriketako Estatu Batuetako Epaitegi Gorenaren jurisprudentziaren gaur egungo errealitatearen edo une gailurren adibideak aztertzen dira. It is pointed out that in exceptional circumstances, either from a temporary point of view (current economic crisis) or from a structural point of view (emergency measures justified by reasons of necessity), is normally affected albeit not necessarily the same principles of the Rule of Law. Some current real examples or key moments in United States¿ Supreme Court case law are provided.

VLADAVINA PRAVA NA „USLUZI“ NARODU, KROZ TEORIJU I PRAKSU

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Opačić ◽  
◽  
Vladimir Vrhovšek ◽  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Legal Norm ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Know How ◽  
The People ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
Law And Justice ◽  
Legal Security

We, as the authors of this text, have found it important to point out the close connection between law and justice, theory and practice, because citizens go to court for justice. The judge says what justice is. However, when the legal norm is available and well known to the persons, to whom it refers, and when it is predictable and the case law is uniform, the persons to whom the legal norm refers, can know their rights and obligations concretely, and thus know how to treat them. In order to that they must behave and anticipate the consequences of their behavior. When all the above has been fulfilled, it can be said that the requirements of the rule of law and legal security have been met, so it can be freely said that law and justice are at the "service of the people", through theory and practice. It should be reminded that the precision of the legal norm is one of the basic elements of the rule of law and is a key factor for the emergence and maintenance of the legitimacy of the legal order, which applies to all branches of law, and that court decisions are binding on all.

Opportunities Associated With Open Access Initiatives

2021 ◽  
pp. 183-204
Author(s):  
Adeyinka Tella ◽  
Omwoyo Bosire Onyancha
Keyword(s):  
Open Access ◽  
Survey Design ◽  
Free Access ◽  
Intention To Use ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Storage Devices ◽  
Dissemination Of Research ◽  
Ict Infrastructure ◽  
Research Students

The chapter examines the opportunities associated with open access (OA) initiatives from the perspective of research students in selected Nigerian universities. A survey design was adopted to conduct the study, whereby the questionnaire was the instrument of data collection. The findings revealed that OA is perceived by the research students as a good idea, easy, beneficial in terms of access and use and usually makes research more interesting. OA most importantly provides opportunities such as enabling readers with the access to publish articles, the future of scholarly research, and publishes faster than the traditional outlets, along with wider dissemination of research and opportunity of free access to all. Incentives of OA include users' accessibility, copyright retention by authors, high quality publications, among others; while the disincentives of OA include lack of reach, cost of publishing, and inadequate quality of some OA platforms. A considerable number of respondents have the continuous intention to use OA instead of traditional platforms, for study and research, as an autonomous tool for improving research and to recommend to colleagues. Significant challenges associated with OA include procrastination, inadequate ICT infrastructure, high cost of internet, and slow speed of internet, restrictions placed on using storage devices like discs or flash drive for downloading contents from OA platforms, among others. The chapter made recommendations based on the findings.

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