Consolidation of Legislation and Religious Laws

introduction:

The Palestinian Legal and Judicial Databank “Al-Muqtafi”, developed since 1995 at the Institute of Law (IoL), is already in use, both in its stand-alone and Internet versions, by most Palestinian Authority and other institutions.

It has proven to be an extremely valuable tool of the legal community in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), notably for the Legislative Council, Courts, Ministries, and NGO and international organizations dealing with the law and human rights.
One of the results of the success of “Al-Muqtafi” is the request by its users, having experienced its reach and ease of use, for more useful legal information. Some groups of users in particular, judges, legislators and practicing lawyers, are asking for the consolidated laws, in their present day amended and updated form. They are also asking for the inclusion of religious laws dealing with family, inheritance and other matters outside the jurisdiction of regular civil code to-date.

These requests for further enriching “Al-Muqtafi” come up against a background of mounting calls and steps for reforming the legal and judicial systems, within the general reform policies of the PA.
This project would allow the Institute of Law to further develop its contribution to the primacy of the rule of law in the Palestinian Territories.

Overall objectives:

• Enhance respect for the Rule of Law
• Consolidation for judges, lawyers, etc. for ease of access, reduce time to follow relations
• Enrich “Al-Muqtafi” with the addition of two new databases, 
• Add to user satisfaction
• For first time, open religious laws to the public, and to research, in view of work on modernization
• IoL capacity building

Duration:

24-month duration (2005-2006)

Doner:
Belgian Consulate

Team:
the IoL team of legal researchers and the Information Technology Unit staff, drawing on outside judicial and legal expertise, with management and administration support, and with necessary software and equipment.

Outputs:

• Consolidated and integrated legislation in the new textual database 
• Database of family/religious laws