AsianLII and other Legal Information Institutes in the Asia-Pacific: Assisting Courts and open justice Graham Greenleaf, Professor of Law, University of New South Wales, and Co-Director, AustLII Philip Chung, Executive Director, AustLII and Lecturer in Law, University of Technology, Sydney 12th Conference of Chief Justices of Asia and the Pacific Hong Kong SAR, PRC, 4-7 June 2007

Overview of presentation Legal Information Institutes - a global movement for free access to law –LIIs in the Asia-Pacific –Demonstration of AustLII as an example The Asian Legal Information Institute –Free access to law from 28 countries/jurisdictions –Demonstration of AsianLII –Future development priorities ‘Final Appeal Courts’ and the LIIs –Facilities for comparative searches of highest Court decisions, in Asia, the Pacific and globally –Methods for most effective LII publication of Court decisions

What is a Legal Information Institute (LII)? Provides free and non-profit online access Publishes multi-sourced legal resources –Collections, not just its own cases or legislation Is independent of governments May be national, regional, language-based, or global The Free Access to Law Movement is an association of LIIs with a Declaration of principles.Declaration

The LIIs of the Asia-Pacific CanLII - CanadaCanLII LII:Cornell - US FederalLII:Cornell AustLII - AustraliaAustLII NZLII - New ZealandNZLII PacLII: 20 Pacific Island states (including PNG)PacLII HKLII - Hong KongHKLII AsianLII - 26 other Asian jurisdictionsAsianLII New LIIs emerging - eg LawPhil (Philippines)

The global structure of LIIs

Who operates LIIs? Universities, as public service –LII (Cornell) PacLII, HKLII, AustLII, NZLII, LawPhil –AsianLII, Droit Francophone, CommonLII, WorldLII, jointly for LIIs A non-profit Trust / Foundation (NGOs) –BAILII (BAILII Trust members are from Courts, Universities, Legal Profession) –SAFLII (South African Constitutional Court Trust members are from Courts, Universities etc; mandate to publish decisions from Chief Justices of Southern and Eastern African countries) The Legal Profession, as professional & public services –CanLII (Law Societies of Canada with a University) –Juri Burkina –CyLaw

Example - AustLII Australasian Legal Information Institute (AustLII)AustLII In operation 12 years since 1995 Free-access, non-profit service by 2 Australian Law Faculties (UTS & UNSW) 252 databases of Australian law 650,000 accesses per day AustLII has its own search engine and mark-up software Since 2000, AustLII has used its software and expertise to assist the development of free access to law in other countriesfree access to law in other countries AsianLII is the most recent example of AustLII’s mission to develop free access to law internationally

Developing AsianLII: Why an Asia-wide law portal? There is no existing Asia-wide system for comparative legal research - contrast the Pacific, Australasia and N.America Differences reducing between diverse legal systems Increasing hybridisation of influences on reform Harmonisation of influences of international agreements Increased transparency to outside world: donors, WTO etc Transparency internally supports the rule of law English as the most common language for law in Asia, despite linguistic diversity; most common language for translations Asia-wide issues such as Islamic law, trade law,environment Conclusion: Build an Asia-wide portal, initially in English, then add other regional and national languages

What content is on AsianLII? Databases - Now 146 from 27/28 Asian countries Legislation - Over 15,000 Acts and Regulations –Legislation from 18 countries/jurisdictions –Plus Constitutions from 14 countries, others being added Case law - Over 150,000 cases from 17 countries –Also decisions of international courts re Asian countries Mainly full text but some are English summariesinternational courts Law reform - reports from 7 countries and ADBreports Law Journals - 4 Asian law journals articleslaw journals –Offer to include journals from any Asian law school Treaties/Agreements - Numerous bilateral treaties, plus regional agreements (APEC, ASEAN, SAARC)

AsianLII basics Asian Legal Information Institute (AsianLII)AsianLII Launched in December 2006 Now 146 databases from 27/28 Asian countries Over 50,000 page accesses per working day Free access to anyone in the world –Non-profit operation by AustLII from Sydney

Obtaining Court decisions for AsianLII All decisions included so far are already published by the Courts on the Internet for free access, or provided by the Court –Courts have indicated these decisions are appropriate to publish Survey of copyright laws in Asian jurisdictions concerning copyright in legislation and case lawSurvey of copyright laws –With few exceptions, no copyright in decisions or legislation –Often no copyright in translations provided by official bodies –Laws of Asian countries strongly support free access to law –Permission to republish is generally otherwise available Most decisions are obtained from Court websites –Periodic updating depending on AustLII staff resources If Courts can decisions, updating is automatic –Decisions can be published on AsianLII on the same day –AustLII offers this facility to all Final Appeal Courts in Asia

Features of Court decisions on AsianLII All decisions are put into a standard format A standard citation method is used for all decisions –[YEAR] Court_designator Decision_number –eg [2007] SGSC 1 - first 2007 decision of Singapore’s Supreme Court –Pioneered by High Court of Australia from 1998, now adopted by many Courts (eg UK Courts, Singapore, S&E Africa) and LIIs Where possible, automatic insertion of hypertext links to legislation cited, and sometimes to other cases cited Very flexible case search facilities –All cases from all countries can be searched together –Special search facility for decisions of Final Appeal Courts only –All decisions from a country (and other content) can be searched together –The decisions of each Court can be searched separately Search results can be ordered by relevance or by date of decision Decisions provided by can be published on the same day

Final Appeal Courts on LIIs Final Appeal Courts on AsianLII: –20 ‘Final Appeal Courts’ (Supreme Courts or Constitutional Courts) from 13 countries/jurisdictionsSupreme Courts or Constitutional Courts) –Largest numbers of decisions are from the SC of India (21,642), CA of Hong Kong (11,744); CA of the Philippines (11,572), CA Sri Lanka (7,285), SC of Papua New Guinea (3,230), Tribunal da Segunda Instância de Macau (1,521), and SC of Japan (867) Final Appeal Courts on other LIIs: –At least 30 ‘Final Appeal Courts’, most from the Pacific and Africa –Largest numbers of decisions are from the HC of Australia 1903 (7,124), SC of Canada (2,427), SC of the United States, UK House of Lords, SC of Ireland, SC of South Africa (1,110) and CA Fiji 1959 (983) WorldLII allows all 50 Final Appeal Courts to be searched togetherall 50 Final Appeal Courts –More Final Appeal Courts will be added as LIIs expand globally

Technical advantages Own software –AustLII search engine and HTML mark-up –Tested over 12 years on AustLII and other LIIs Search scope flexibility –over all 135+ databases together –over all content from only one country –Comparative law searches over legislation (or case law etc) from all countries:

Technical advantages (2) Flexible display of results –In default, sorted by likely relevance –Can sort by date (eg most recent cases first) –Can view by databases satisfying the search

Technical advantages (3) Automated hypertext linking and ‘noteups’ –Links to legislation and case from wherever they are mentioned –Go to a piece of legislation and ‘note it up’ to find all cases or articles considering it –Links are inserted by automated processes Example: Extract from Mahkamah Agung case ( PT. COMARINDO EXPRES TAMA TOUR & TRAVEL v YEMEN AIRWAYS [2005] IDSC 1 (28 January 2005))[2005] IDSC 1

Who is involved in AsianLII? Operations - operated by AustLII (UTS & UNSW)AustLII Collaborating LIIs - HKLII and PacLII (re PNG) –AsianLII is also part of WorldLII, and overlaps CommonLII –All part of the global Free Access to Law Movement Country supporting institutions - from 6 countriesfrom 6 countries –Some will develop into separate new LIIs –Courts are welcome to become CSIs Regional supporting institutions - APEC SELI; ADB; LAWASIA; Inter-Pacific Bar Assoc.; IDLO Funding - AusAID; Aust. A-Gs –Sufficient for 2 staff plus infrastructure

Future development of AsianLII Expand databases for all 28 countries –Add databases in languages other than English, if browsable Search engine - extension to Asian languages –Bahasa Indonesian/Malay and Portuguese already –first priority Chinese (assisted by HKLII) and Vietnamese –then Thai/Khymer/Lao (AusAID funding assists) New independent LIIs (Legal Information Institutes) –Re-developed LawPhil (Philippines) will be firstPhilippines –Aim to assist new LIIs to develop in any Asian country by providing search engine and technical assistance –Local control coupled with regional and global integration and international best practice –Only funded as yet to assist in six countries; will seek funding to work in other countries where there is interest

An Invitation to Final Appeal Courts in Asia 1.All Final Appeal Courts are invited to have their decisions published on AsianLII, if they are not already included. Please contact us to discuss how this can be done. Titles of decisions in English may be needed. 2.All Final Appeal Courts are invited to have their decisions published on AsianLII on the same day as they are delivered, by to AustLII. Please contact us to discuss the procedures. 3.There is no charge to Courts, and access by users is free Contact details: Professor Graham Greenleaf, Co-Director Philip Chung, Executive Director