Linking the Legislation with the Court Judgment Database

introduction:

The proposed project aims at contributing to the provisions of infrastructural improvements required to enable the Palestinian legal system to adequately perform its duties. In the framework of the development of the Palestinian legal system, the Institute of Law has since 1993 initiated the development of wide access to the legal information resources, particularly through the Legal Databank, whose first step was the legislative database, and recently the establishment of a court judgment database, and is now sufficiently developed to provide users with an advanced system, that connects both databases, thus responding to the need for an easy and modern access to the latest development of the Palestinian legal system.

The aim of the project is to connect both the Legislation and Court Judgment database through different tools.

AL MUQTAFI currently contains several independent databases. Through each database, relevant information can be accessed. For example, the legislative database enables access to items of legislation pertaining to a particular subject. By the legal controlled vocabulary system of the Court Judgement Database, all court judgements related to a particular field can be viewed.

Overall objectives:

• Connecting the legislative database with the court judgement database within AL MUQTAFI.
• Responding to the need for an easy and modern access to the latest development of the Palestinian legal system
• Contributing to the infrastructural improvements to enable the Palestinian legal system to adequately perform its duties.
• Linking various documents, concepts, legal terms, etc. to enable users view judicial judgements related to a certain legal provision through the Legislation Database.
• Adding commentaries on a selection of certain court judgements.
• Updating, upgrading and adding further court judgments and recent enacted legislation to AL MUQTAFI.
• Contributing to creating a communication mechanism between researchers and beneficiaries through the conceptual linking between legal terms.
• Preparing a manual in both languages Arabic and English on the usage of both databases.

Duration of the project:
1 January 2008- 31 December 2009

Funder:

Belgian Consulate

Team:
Legal Researchers, Technical Team. Administrative / Support staff, Other (Contractual Services)

Outputs:

• Converting approximately 15,000 judicial decisions available on the Court Judgments Database using the XML program.
• Al-Muqtafi will be consisting of two connected databases at the end of the project; the first deals with the Palestinian regulations since the Othman period and the other dealing with the Palestinian High Courts judgements since 1994. 
• An instructional manual will be prepared by the researchers for the users on how to use the Legal Databank. 
• The users can review not only the legal texts but also the high court judgments without the need to move from database to another.
• The legal database will be enriched by the commentaries provided by the legal experts on a significant set of judgements made by Palestinian High Court.
• The system will consist of a searchable judicial database capable of offering information about judicial precedents to all interested Palestinian and other users. 
• Improvement of the structure, form, and contents of legal texts, whether in legislation or judicial judgments. Information management leads towards instituting a system suitable for case file management and help in building a renewal of legal culture engaged in constructive criticism and constant revision. Ultimately, this can be very instrumental in furthering the judge’s message of justice to the public, improving the efficiency of the judicial authority, and in pressing for active public participation in the legislative policymaking.