Naming Legislative Resource

Transcription

1 Naming Legislative Resource Enrico Francesconi, PierLuigi Spinosa Institute of Legal Information Theory and Techniques Italian National Research Council (ITTIG / CNR Florence) {enrico.francesconi, pierluigi.spinosa}@ittig.cnr.it LEX Summer School 2012 Ravenna, September 10th-14th, 2012

2 Summary 1. Introduction to unequivocal identifiers 2. Metadata set for identification 3. The URN:LEX scheme and other schemes 4. The URN:LEX metadata model and syntax 5. Tools and Services based on URN standard 6. Http-based version of the URN:LEX identifier

3 Semantic Web Layers

4 PART 1 Introduction to Unequivocal (or Univocal or Unambiguous) Identifiers

5 Characteristics of Identifiers Identifier (ID): univocal distinctive label of an object with a well defined coverage and a value Purpose: to simplify object management - a key allowing related information access Identifier coverage: Local level National level valid only in a limited environment (administration, company, DB, etc.) (e.g. employee number, record key, etc.) valid within a state (e.g. fiscal code, passport number, car numberplate, etc.) International level valid at international level (e.g. phone number, IP address, IBAN, URI, etc.)

6 Characteristics of Identifiers opaque: independent from the identified object e.g. car numberplate it can't be built from the object characteristics transparent: self-explaining e.g. Italian fiscal code it can be built from the object characteristics uni-directional: only from an object to its ID (e.g. fiscal code) bi-directional: from an object to its ID and back (e.g. URN:LEX)

7 Legal Measures Identifiers Usally legal measures are not identified by a shared ID scheme A set of metadata is usually used: enacting authority (implied for some measures (act, law decree,...)) type of the measure (e.g. act, decree,...) date [day, month, year] / [year] (usually with a number)) number - in a national register (as acts) - in a local register (at different levels: administration, department, etc.) - not assigned (as ministry decrees, administrative measures, etc.)

8 A Legal Document Identifier CELEX number: univocal identifier for EU acts: Legislation: Regulations, Directives, Judgements, etc. Case-law: Court of Justice, Court of First Instance, etc. Sector e.g. Year Type Number 31990L0314 (Directive on package travel,...) sector: 1=Treaties; 3=Secondary legislation; 6=Case-law;... type: if sector=3: L=Directive; R=Regulation; D=Decision;... if sector=6: J=Judgement of Court of Justice;... Characteristics of Celex number: - transparent ID for EU acts - it includes a number (or OJ date) - EUR-Lex (EU documentary system) is responsible for IDs - it is used in bibliographic references (not within the text)

9 PART 2 The Metadata Set for Sources of Law Identification

10 Sources of Law Identification Source of law is a wide concept including any document that can be conceived of as the originator of legal rules. In particular we consider: normative acts (legislation and regulations) administrative acts jurisprudential acts (case law) A shared source of law naming convention aims to identify any act in a distributed environment

11 Alignment with the FRBR Model (IFLA) FRBR (Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Record) model consists of 4 levels: - work: a distinct intellectual creation - expression: any different version over the time or across languages (original, amended, localized) - manifestation: any different realisation of an expression (paper format, digital format, etc.) - item: any single copy of a manifestation Any level includes a set of metadata Such metadata are used for identification

12 The FRBR Model Schema source: CEN / Metalex WD 2009

13 Work Level Metadata Relevant (minimum set) of metadata at work level are: country or jurisdiction enacting the document enacting authority document type relevant creation date or period relevant number or any disambiguating feature For each element proper specifications can be added The work level is independent from versions, dates, life-cycle, data format or physical location, etc.

14 Expression Level Metadata Expression level main metadata useful to identify any specific version of the corresponding work are: event date associated to a specific version event creating such new version validity date that specifies the content validity language in which the document is written The expression level is independent from data format, editor, physical location, etc.

15 Manifestation Level Metadata Manifestation level main metadata useful to characterize a specific realization of a expression/version are: data format used (e.g., xml, pdf,...) publisher or editorial staff (responsible for content markup and metadata) components contained in the manifestation (the document itself, tables, maps, etc.) possible additional features (e.g., on charge, anonymized decision text, etc.) Each main element can have some specifications, as DTD version, DB name, etc.

16 Identifier Construction from Metadata Metadata values combined through a specific syntax (serialization) The standard URN:LEX, ELI, ECLI, CELEX number, Akoma Ntoso follows this concept and generates transparent document IDs

17 PART 3 The URN:LEX Schema

18 The Context Several institutional projects in legal documents identification, structuring and management EU law (OPOCE) European initiatives MetaLex (The Netherlands) CHLexML (Switzerland)... Extra-European initiatives NormeInRete (Italy) LexDania (Denmark) elaw (Austria) AkomaNtoso (Pan African Parliaments) En-Act project (Tasmanian Government) Senado Federal do Brasil... They have different identification and XML standards

19 Need of Sources of Law Unique Identifier Growing interest in exchanging legal information knowledge at national and trans-national levels due to: political, social and economic integration of EU Member States world-wide legal and economic integration processes Need of an improvement of the overall quality and accessibility of legal information interoperability among legal information systems across different countries Pre-condition common and shared open-standard to identify Sources of Law at international level

20 Need of Sources of Law Unique Identifier Supported by: National Legal XML projects Free Access to Law movement OPOCE for identification of EU and National Laws Experts Meeting on Global Co-operation on the Provision of Online Legal Information on National Laws, October 2008 (Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference on Private International Law) Declaration which encourages State Parties "to adopt neutral methods of citation of their legal materials, including methods that are medium-neutral, providerneutral and internationally consistent"

21 The URN:LEX Objectives > URN:LEX Namespace convention and structure for identifying Sources of Law (any legal document within the domain of legislation, case law and administrative acts) > unique at international level > transparent > persistent > location-independent Objectives > provide a mechanism of stable cross-collection and crosscountry references > facilitate legal document management

22 URN:LEX Principles 1. open standard (no vendors lock-in) 2. international coverage for Sources of Law 3. compliant with CEN Metalex standard 4. free adhesion (pure federative approach) 5. equal dignity among languages > different countries can implement the LEX namespace schema in their own official languages 6. interoperability among resources irrespective to identifiers implementation language 7. transparent ID 8. compliant to the legal citation modalities

23 The URN Standard Uniform Resource Names (URNs) are unambiguous and lasting identifiers for network resources: independent from: availability of the resource access modality physical location conceived by the Internet community as a URI type URNs have been chosen in several Legal XML projects: as univocal and persistent identifiers of legal documents as tools to represent relationships among them

24 URN - Document Relationships A uniform name identifies only one document Two different documents can't have the same name One document may have more names (aliases) e.g., URN different language localizations legal documents space x x x x x x x o x x x uniform name

25 References Network Country A Country B d legal acts c a b e f g LA NLA a: same collect. e: same country no legal acts b: diff. collect. c: diff. site d: diff. country f: same country g: diff. country

26 URN query results in a federated environment 1 URN to n URLs resolution system urn(a) 1: Senate, original, pdf, free 2: Ministry Justice, updated, xml, free... n: Acts, updated, html, on-charge doc. A LEX federative system Web site (c/o Min. of Justice) The user selects a specific expression/manifestation according to: editor, authoritativeness, access modality, digital format,...

27 URN:LEX use (1) A uniform name will be used: 1. for direct access to a document 2. for navigation through document references urn(a) reference to doc. A urn(a) doc. B doc. A LEX system

28 URN:LEX use (2) 3. to represent relationships among documents X rel Y formalisation urn(x) Rel urn(y) 5. to deduce other relations (inverse, inherited, etc.): e.g. if doc.b modifies doc.a: source of information urn(b) ActiveMod urn(a) --> urn(a) PassiveMod urn(b) A act R reg. P pro. Regulation R depends by A; Admin. Proceedings P depends by R and by A

29 URN System Requirements (1) 1. A SCHEME for assigning names, which is defined through a namespace, in our case able to represent: - any legal measure (legislative, administrative, judicial) - issued by any authority (national, regional, local) - at any time (past, present and future) Rules syntax and formal parameters of identification are needed: the used model is the citation modality e.g. art. 5 Act n. 127 of 1997 decree of Ministry of Finance of 10 may 2000

30 URN Benefits Since uniform names depend only on the significant details of the referred measures and by the schema: - references are persistent - references can be built from the citation, by an editorial staff assisted by a dialog application or automatically by a parser e.g. art. 5 of the Ministry of Justice decree of 24 july 1992, n. 358 editorial staff or program urn:lex:uk:ministry.justice:decree: ;358#art5

31 Automatic Hyperlinks... Art. 9 The provisions of Directive 77/799/EEC shall apply to the exchange of information under this Directive, provided that the provisions of this Directive do not derogate therefrom. However, Article 8 of Directive 77/799/EEC shall not apply to the information to be provided pursuant to this chapter. in s r Pa e h t g nt e m u c do

32 Automatic Hyperlinks... Art. 9 The provisions of Directive 77/799/EEC shall apply to the exchange of information under this Directive, provided that the provisions of this Directive do not derogate therefrom. However, Article 8 of Directive 77/799/EEC shall not apply to the information to be provided pursuant to this chapter.

33 URN System Requirements (2) 2. A RESOLUTION mechanism from the uniform name to the on-line location (URL) [distributed through delegations on particular domains] urn(a) resolution catalogue rules url-1(a) url-2(a) url-n(a) site doc. A (url-2) e.g. URN=urn:lex:it:stato:legge: ;254 --> URL1= --> URL2=

34 URN Association to Documents 1. Into XML documents: - URN value in a metadata <urn value= urn:lex:it:stato:legge: /> - links with URN argument <rif xlink:href= urnb >doc.b</rif> 2. Into HTML documents: - URN value in META tag <META name= lex.urn content= urn:lex:it:stato:legge:... > - links with resolver address + URN <a href= >doc.b</a> 3. With a RDF (Resource Description Framework) triple (subject[url] - predicate[hasurn] - object[urn]) 4. Insertion of URN <--> URLs in a DB

35 URN vs URL characteristics univocity base persistence updating resource access network resources construction automation browser URL * network resource network location no all the links direct one not possible not possible many schemes URN document significant details yes only resolver through resolver one or more by rules of namespace from references not supported *

36 Official Registration of the lex Namespace 1. URN:LEX namespace is under registration to IETF/IANA 2. Why asking for the official registration? - standard mechanism to link sources of law in a persistent way - to share a common infrastructure for routing the resolution system through DNS 3. Basic infrastructure - namespace root ( lex.urn.uri.arpa ) - primary DNS server for lex routing (e.g. c/o ITTIG) - routing to activated national DNS servers ( lex:it, lex:br,...) - routing to various national resolvers ( it:stato, it:regione,...) - direct document access using URN (no previous conversion in http)

37 Architecture of Distributed Resolution System urn:lex:it:stato:legge:1999;35 dns lex.urn.uri.arpa lex dns it url(resolv)?urn:lex:it: stato:legge:1999;35 url of resolution service stato regione url-1(stato:legge:1999;35) url-2(stato:legge:1999;35) text of: legge n. 35/1999 resol. site catalogue fr naptr rec.

38 PART 4 The URN:LEX metadata model and syntax

39 Identification Features: Top level urn:lex : country/jurisdiction : Namespace The country/jurisdiction emanating the document (eu, un, it, fr, de, be,...) Local-name, uniform name of the source of law within a country/jurisdiction local-name

40 Local-name Identification Features Information able to identify a resource at: Work level: authority, document type, details and annexes Expression level: version, language Manifestation level: format, editor, components, other features expression $ manifestation

41 Work Identification Features They allow to identify a distinct intellectual creation Identification Features Authority (emanating actor) Document type (ex: directive, law, decree, etc.) Details about Relevant creation date of the work Relevant number or disambiguating feature of the work Components (Main body and Annexes if any) Authority : Document Type : Details : urn:lex:es:estado:ley: ;123 urn:lex:it:stato:legge: ;456 urn:lex:fr:etat:loi: ;321 Annex

42 Expression Identification Features They allow to identify different versions consolidation process corrections of publication errors (e.g. errata corrige) different in force dates of partitions the language in which the text is expressed Identification Features version : language Relevant dates identifying a new version The associated language(s) urn:lex:ch:etat:loi: ;22@originel:fr urn:lex:ch:staat:gesetz: ;22@original:de urn:lex:ch:etat:loi: ;22@ :fr urn:lex:ch:staat:gesetz: ;22@ :de

43 Manifestation Identification Features They allow to identify a concrete realisation of an expression Indentification Features data format (e.g., XML, HTML, PDF, etc.); editorial staff (editor) to determine the authoritativeness of the text content possible components of the expressions (figures, tables, etc.) possible other features (ex: mark-up date, anonymized decision, etc.) format : editor : components : other-features urn:lex:it:stato:legge: ;56$application-pdf;1.7:senato.it:picture.1

44 Hierarchy of the Scheme URN:LEX follows the hierarchical structure of FRBR model: expression 1 manifestation 1 work expression 2 manifestation 2 manifestation N expression N <expression-x> $ <manifestation-y>

45 Multilingual Equivalence For official multi-lingual countries or organizations, at the work level, the URN of an act is expressed in each of the official language - equal dignity: none of the languages is preferred urn:lex:ch:etat:loi: ;22 urn:lex:ch:staat:gesetz: ;22 urn:lex:ch:stato:legge: ;22 (in French) (in German) (in Italian)

46 Some Italian Examples Constitution urn:lex:it:stato:costituzione: ;1 National Act 24 November 1999, No. 468 urn:lex:it:stato:legge: ;468 Regional Act of 6/4/2000, No. 50 (of Tuscany) urn:lex:it:regione.toscana:legge: ;50 Local Act No. 23 of (Major of Florence) urn:lex:it:comune.firenze;sindaco:ordinanza: ;23 Communications and Health Inter-ministerial Regulation, 9 September 1998 urn:lex:it:ministero.comunicazioni+ministero.salute:regolamento: ;98 Independent Authority circular of 6 November 2001, No. 35 (of AIPA) urn:lex:it:autorita.informatica.pubblica.amministrazione:circolare: ;35 Decision of the Italian Constitutional Court No.7 of 23 January 1995 urn:lex:it:corte.costituzionale:sentenza: ;7

47 Http-based identifiers URI naming convention using http schema Absolute form http starts with the string followed by a domain name the local part starts off the first individual / character. Relative form no indication of the scheme, no indication of the domain name It may have further missing parts at the beginning of the whole string (no missing parts on the end)

48 Http-based identifiers Global form relative URI where all parts are explicit It starts with /, to indicate that only protocol and domain are omitted Local form It may have one or more missing parts (from left to right) the corresponding global (and, subsequently, absolute) URI is determined by adding the corresponding parts In XML manifestations all work, expression and manifestation level references to whole documents must be global all references to individual components must be local

49 Http-based identifier Naming convention compliant with CEN Metalex and used by AkomaNtoso It shares the same principles for Sources of Law Identification using an http scheme An example of AkomaNtoso act identification /ken/act/ /123 date number document type jurisdiction

50 Http-based identifier Relative, global work- level URI for schedule 1 of act 1/2007 of Kenya /kn/act/ /1/schedule1 Work-level reference to schedule 1 placed within the main document local URI schedule1 or./schedule1 This guarantees that references keep on working even after new expressions are created of the same work

51 Http-based Work Identification Identification Features Country (a two-letter code according to ISO alpha-2) Type of document Date (expressed in YYYY-MM-DD format or just YYYY if the year is enough for identification purposes) Number (when appropriate, otherwise the string nn) [ Algerian parliamentary debate record, 21st December [ Sierra Leone enacted legislation. Act number 2 of [ Namibia Bill number 19 of 2003 [ Madagascar. Act 3 from 2003

52 Expression Identification Features The URI for the Expression consists of the following pieces: the URI of the corresponding Work The character / The human language code in which the expression is drafted (a three-letter code according to ISO alpha-3) character (required) An optional version identifier: If an approved act, the version date of the expression in syntax YYYY-MM-DD. If a bill, the presentation date is appropriate, or the stage in the approval process that the current draft is the result of. [ Algerian parliamentary debate record, 21st December 2004, French version [ Sierra Leone enacted legislation. Act number 2 of English version, current version [ Sierra Leone enacted Legislation. Act number 2 of English version, original version [ Sierra Leone enacted Legislation. Act number 2 of English version, as amended on July 2004

53 Manifestation Identification Features The URI for the Manifestation as a whole consists of the following pieces: The URI of the corresponding Expression as a whole The character. Three letter acronym of the data format in which the manifestation is drafted: pdf for PDF, doc for MS Word, or xml for the XML manifestation. The acronym akn is reserved for the package of all documents including XML version of the main document(s) [ Word version of the Algerian parliamentary debate record, 21st December 2004, French version [ PDF version of the Sierra Leone enacted Legislation. Act number 2 of English version, current version (as accessed today) [ Package of all documents including XML versions of the Sierra Leone enacted Legislation. Act number 2 of English version, as amended in July 2004

54 Http-based version of the LEX identifier It represents a serialization of the URN:LEX metadata, according to an http syntax <host-name> name of the organization server publishing the resource; "lex" equivalent of the URN namespace ID; <jurisdiction> <local-name> meaning and syntax of the corresponding URN:LEX metadata

55 Identifiers within Linked Data Linked Data, has been promoted as a basic infrastructure of the semantic web to enable data sharing and reuse on a massive scale. Such principles, introduced by Tim Berners-Lee, are 1. Use URIs as names for things. 2. Use HTTP URIs, so that people can look up those names. 3. When someone looks up a URI, provide useful information, using the standards (RDF, SPARQL). 4. Include links to other URIs, so that they can discover more things.

56 Identifiers within Linked Data The second principle Use HTTP URIs, so that people can look up those name is the one more affecting a discussion about the scheme to be used for legal resources identification The aim is to guarantee the access to the resources (Dereferenceability): Dereferenceability for http-based identifiers any retrieval mechanism using protocols (e.g. HTTP) so that HTTP clients, for instance, can look up the URI using the HTTP protocol and retrieve a description of the resource that is identified by the URI. either with or without a resolver allowing a 1-to-1 association with the best copy of the resource (non-federated system, centralized control) Dereferenceability for URN identifiers available if a resolver is properly set-up, allowing 1-to-n association with more copies of a resource (federated system)

57 PART 5 Tools and Services based on the URN:NiR standards 5.1. Resolution Process 5.2. References Parser 5.3. Specialized Editor: xmleges-editor

58 The Italian Norme in Rete (NiR) Project Norme in Rete (NiR) [Legislation on the Net] is: The Italian Legislative XML project, since mid 1999 proposed by the Italian Ministry of Justice co-ordinated by CNIPA (Italian Centre for Information Technology in the Public Administration) Goals: - to provide a unique point of access to legislation - to define an architecture based on standards in a federative environment - to provide a advanced search and retrieval facilities - initially focused on the legal measures, then oriented to all types of legal sources (legislation, case law and administrative measures)

59 The URN:NIR Standards The NiR project defined 3 main standards: document identification (URN:NIR) document representation (XML DTD and XMLSchema) document description (general and analytic metadata set) These standards have been adopted by 2 recommendations (n. 35/2001 and n. 40/2002) issued by CNIPA The Italian Identification scheme is very similar to the LEX one NS Authority Measure Terms Annex Version urn:nir:stato:legge: ;358:allegato.a@

60 5.1. Resources for Resolution in NiR Portal 1. Catalogue of Norms > contains the significant details of the published measures: - in the OJ since 1948 (also since 1906 if still in force) - in institutional bodies sites > contains also a set of metadata (as title, publication date, matter, etc.): - to allow advanced search (details, nature, etc.) > contains URN & URLs of the measures > is the basic service of the resolution process

61 5.1. Resources for Resolution in NiR Portal 2. Authority Register > it contains: - the official names of the institutional bodies - related periods of validity & internal structures - relationships among them & possible name variants > editorial staff support to build the exact URNs of an act: - official & normalized name at the enacting time of the act > it is the base of the normalisation process: - correction of some errors in URN link e.g. urn:nir:ministero.finanze:decreto: normalisation urn:nir:ministero.economia.finanze:decreto:

62 5.1. Scheme of NiR Resolution Process URN normalisation resolution >1 URLs list =1 Authority Database URN Database document =0 Authority Register Norms Catalogue Catalogue info NiR site

63 5.1. Result of NiR Resolution Process catalogue information click on a link 2 resources found

64 5.2. References Parser: xmleges-linker Characteristics of ITTIG s xmleges-linker: - different input sources (page on browser, local file, URL, etc.) - different data formats (txt, html, xml) - it deals with more than 20 types of measures - it builds uniform names from a textual citation and creates hyperlinks - it can invoke the resolution process It can be run by: - a browser toolbar or different applications (e.g. Editor) - a centralised service on the NiR portal or other sites (e.g. Senate) - a local copy downloaded from the NiR site

65 Senate Web site Parsing Service Document before legal reference mark-up

66 Senate Web site: Parsing Result Document after legal reference mark-up

67 Normattiva: Parsing service Document before legal reference mark-up

68 Normattiva: Parsing service Document after legal reference mark-up

69 5.2. Parsing through the NiR Toolbar NIR toolbar click on analyse

70 5.2. Result of the parsing function

71 5.2. NIR Portal: Parsing from a retrieved doc. 1. copy text portion 2. paste 3. analyse utility frame

72 5.2. NiR Portal: Parsing Result 4. Hypertext with URN links 5. click on a link

73 5.2. NiR Portal: Parsing Service whole doc. different: - sources - formats - destinations - outputs,...

74 5.3. xmleges-editor functions external references references parser references panel

75 5.3. xmleges-editor: external ref. implement.

76 5.3. xmleges-editor: automatic ref. parsing

77 5.3. xmleges-editor: references results results

78 URN Support for Browsers A specific function has been designed by W3C for managing any protocol, for simplifying the DDDS mechanism: - the applications are available on Web sites (or stand-alone) - the user registers in his browser the proper application for a specific protocol - any call to the protocol is managed by the chosen application - Firefox 6 implements this function, for other browsers specific extensions are implemented ITTIG has developed a DDDS service for URN schema: - author: Lorenzo Di Silvestro (ITTIG-CNR) - NS supported: lex, nir, nbn, lcid, oid - RFC compliant with NAPTR and SRV records handling - registration:

79 Registration of the service

80 Registration of the service

81 URN Handler for different browsers

82 Some URN links LEX:BR: "urn:lex:br:federal:lei: ;2188" LEX:FR: "urn:lex:fr:senat:proposition.loi:2008;16" NIR: "urn:nir:stato:legge: ;400" NIR: "urn:nir:senato.repubblica:disegno.legge:16.legislatura;1611" NIR: "urn:nir:regione.campania:legge: ;10" NBN: "urn:nbn:de:bsz:93-opus-59" LSID: "urn:lsid:ubio.org:classificationbank: " OID: "urn:oid: " ISBN: "urn:isbn: "

83 Appendix 1 - Relevant RFC for URN RFC 2141: URN Syntax RFC 2169: A Trivial Convention for using HTTP in URN Resolution RFC 2276: Architectural Principles of Uniform Resource Name Resolution RFC 2483: URI Resolution Services Necessary for URN Resolution RFC : Dynamic Delegation Discovery System (DDDS) RFC 3406: Uniform Resource Names (URN) Namespace Definition Mechanisms RFC 3986: Uniform Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax 40 RFCs for specific URN Namespace Definition (ietf... dvb)