Computer-assisted legal research

Computer-assisted legal research (CALR)[1] or computer-based legal research is a mode of legal research that uses databases of court opinions, statutes, court documents, and secondary material. Electronic databases make large bodies of case law easily available. Databases also have additional benefits, such as Boolean searches, evaluating case authority, organizing cases by topic, and providing links to cited material. Databases are available through paid subscription or for free.[2]

Subscription-based services include Westlaw, LexisNexis, JustCite, HeinOnline, Bloomberg Law, VLex and LexEur. As of 2015 the commercial market grossed $8 billion.[3] Free services include OpenJurist, Google Scholar, AltLaw, Ravel Law,[3] WIPO Lex, Law Delta and the databases of the Free Access to Law Movement.

Purposes

Computer-assisted legal research is undertaken by a variety of actors. It is taught as a topic on many law degrees[4] and is used extensively by undergraduate and postgraduate law students in meeting the work requirements of their degree courses. Professors of Law rely on the digitisation of primary and secondary sources of law when conducting their research and writing the material that they submit for publication. Professional lawyers rely on computer-assisted legal research in order to properly understand the status of the law and so to act effectively in the best interest of their client. They may also consult the text of case judgements and statutes specifically, as well as wider academic comment, in order to form the basis of (or response to) an appeal.

The availability of legal information online differs by type, jurisdiction and subject matter. The types of information available include:[5]

  1. Texts of statutes, statutory instruments, civil codes, etc.
  2. Explanatory notes and government publications relating to statutes and their operation
  3. Texts of governing documents such as constitutions and treaties
  4. Case judgements
  5. Journals on legal matters or legal theory
  6. Dictionaries and legal encyclopaediæ
  7. Legal texts and materials in the form of e-books
  8. Current affairs and market information
  9. Educational information on the law and its operation

Before the Internet

Prior to the advent and popularisation of the World Wide Web, access to digital legal information was largely through the use of CD-ROMs, designed and sold by commercial organisations.[6] Dial-up services were also available from the 1970s.[7] As the use of the Internet spread in the early 1990s, companies such as LexisNexis and Westlaw incorporated Internet connectivity into their software packages. Browser-based legal information started to be published by Legal Information Institutes from 1992.[8]

Publicly available information

The first effort to provide free computer access to legal information was made by two academics, Peter Martin and Tom Bruce, in 1992.[8] Today, the Legal Information Institute freely publishes such resources as the text of the United States Constitution, judgements of the United States Supreme Court, and the text of the United States Code.

The Australasian Legal Information Institute (AusLII) was established soon after in 1995.[9] Other legal information institutes, such as those of Great Britain and Ireland (BAILII), Canada (CII) and South Africa (SAfLI) soon followed.[6] LIIs were partially formalised in 2002 following the signing of the Declaration of Free Access to the Law, which has been signed by 54 countries.[10] At the time of writing, the World Legal Information Institute contains in excess of 1800 databases from 123 jurisdictions.[11]

Many governments also publish legal information online. For example, UK legislation and statutory instruments have been publicly available online since 2010.[12] Depending on the jurisdiction in question, the decisions of higher appellate courts may also be published online, either by the Legal Information Institute or by the court service directly.[13] Sources of European Union Law are published for free by EUR-Lex in 23 languages, including judgements of the European Courts.[14] Similarly, judgements of the European Court of Human Rights are published on its website.[15]

See also

References
  • Dittakavi Nagasankara Rao, Computer Assisted Legal Research: A Selected Bibliography, Public administration series, Issue 1574, Vance Bibliographies, 1984 Google Books
  • Hazelton. Computer Assisted Legal Research: The Basics, West Publishing Company. 1993. Google Books
  • Cary Griffith. Griffith's Guide to Computer Assisted Legal Research. Anderson Publishing Company. 1992. Google Books
  • The CLIC Guide to Computer-assisted Legal Research. Canadian Law Information Council. 1988. Google Books
  • James Alexander Sprowl. A Manual for Computer-assisted Legal Research. American Bar Foundation. 1976. Google Books
  • Long. Computer Aided Legal Research. Thomson/Delmar Learning. 2003. Google Books
  • Dayal. Laying Down the Law: Online Computer Assisted Legal Research, Butterworths. 1996.
  • Computer-assisted Legal Research: A Guide to Successful Online Searching. American Bar Association. 1997. Google Books
  • Ebersole, Emergence of Computer-assisted Research as an Established Legal Tool, Federal Judicial Chamber, December 1977 Google Books
  • Sager, An Evaluation of Computer Assisted Legal Research Systems for Federal Court Applications, Federal Judicial Chamber, September 1977 Google Books
  • Report on Computer-assisted Legal Research and Information Processing, Nebraska Legislative Council, 1975 Google Books
  • Christopher Gove Wren and Jill Robinson Wren. Using Computers in Legal Research: A Guide to Lexis and Westlaw. Adams & Ambrose Publishing. 1994. Google Books
  • Theodor Herman. How to Research Less and Find More: The Essential Guide to Computer Assisted Legal Research. West Publishing Company. 1996. Google Books
  • Delaney. Electronic Legal Research: An Integrated Approach. Delmar Cengage Learning. Second Edition. 2009. Google Books
  • Matthew S Cornick. Using Computers in the Law Office. Sixth Edition.  Delmar Cengage Learning. 2012. Chapter 8 ("The Internet, Computer-assisted Legal Research and Electronic Mail"). Page 202 et seq.
  1. "Assessing the Influence of Computer-Assisted Legal Research: A Study of California Supreme Court Opinions" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-11-19. Retrieved 2010-02-24.
  2. Kate Marquess, Caught in the Web: Survey Reveals Increasing Use of Internet in Law Practices, but Lawyers Are Making Transition Slowly, A.B.A. J., Dec. 2000, at 76.
  3. Erik Eckholm (October 28, 2015). "Harvard Law Library Readies Trove of Decisions for Digital Age". The New York Times. Retrieved October 29, 2015. a commercial market surpassing $8 billion
  4. James Holland and Jullian Webb, Learning Legal Rules (7th edn., Oxford University Press, 2010)
  5. See e.g. http://legalresearch.westlaw.co.uk/; http://www.lexisnexis.co.uk/en-uk/home.page; http://www.legislation.gov.uk; https://www.jstor.org
  6. The "free access to law movement" in India: supporting legal education, research and practice Priya Rai and Akash Singh (2015) Legal Information Management 178
  7. Archived February 28, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  8. LII/Legal Information Institute, Cornell University https://www.law.cornell.edu/
  9. "Electronic Law Journals – JILT 1997 (2) – AustLII's roles". University of Warwick. Retrieved 4 March 2010.
  10. Sarah Glassmeyer and Pete Smith, 'Open Law: technology in service of the rule of law' (2014) Legal Information Management 181
  11. http://www.worldlii.org/ accessed: 16th June 2016
  12. "Legislation.gov.uk".
  13. See e.g. https://www.supremecourt.uk/decided-cases/
  14. "About EUR-Lex - EUR-Lex". eur-lex.europa.eu. Retrieved 2020-06-02.
  15. "Case-law of the ECHR-Judgments and Decisions, Case-law translations".
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