Access to Justice 2.0: Access to Legislation and Beyond
The Theory and Practice of Legislation, Forthcoming
Hebrew University of Jerusalem Legal Research Paper No. 16-12
36 Pages Posted: 23 Dec 2015 Last revised: 8 Apr 2016
Date Written: December 22, 2015
Abstract
This article provides a conceptual account of 'access to legislation' and 'access to legislative information' ('A2L'), which consolidates an important and relatively new movement within the access to justice field. According to this new conceptualization, A2L refers to the ability of people to access and understand the content of laws which govern their lives, and therefore requires, as a normative matter, more than a formal promulgation of the law by the state. A2L stems from a State's duty to provide – and the correlative right of the individual to gain – effective access to legislative information. Drawing from global experiences, the article brings together three arenas in which actions are taken for the realization of A2L: electronic legislative databases, plain language drafting, and legal literacy, in order to present a broad and coherent conception of A2L. It is argued that the wide range of possible activities through which A2L can be carried out nowadays sets a new (or 'Neo') high standard of state obligation to enable and facilitate such access.
Keywords: Legislation, access to legislation, access to justice, legislative databases, plain language, legal literacy, legislative drafting, promulgation of legislation, legislative information
JEL Classification: K00, K49
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation