"Access to Indian Legal Information in Digital Environment: A Comparative Study of Electronic Commercial Databases and

Public Domain Resources in Law"

Priya Rai, Deputy LibrarianNational Law University, Delhi- India

email:priyanlud@gmail.com

India is, The Cradle of The Human

Race, The Birthplace of Human Speech, The Mother of History, The

Grandmother of Legend, And The Great Grandmother of Tradition. Our

Most Valuable and Most Instructive Materials in The History of Man Are Treasured Up in India only. -Mark Twain

5,000 Year Old Civilization

Indian Judicial System is based on English Common Law

Administrative Division – 28 States and 7 Union Territories

Phases of Indian Legal System

Ancient Hindu Period

Mediaeval Muslim Period

British Period

Post Independence Period

King’s Court (Highest Court)

Court of Chief Justice

Tribunals (Board of Judges)

Stationary CourtsMovable Courts

CommissionsArbitrator (Klan) Jurisdiction

Endowments Irrigation

Cultivable Land Punishment of Crime

Trade & Family Disputes

Hindu Period: Judicial System in Ancient India

The Muslim Period: Judicial System in Mediaeval India

SULTANATE OF DELHI PERIOD(1206-1526)

KING’S COURT Apex Authority

QUZI-UL-QUZATCourt of Chief Justice

DIWAN-E- MUZALIMHighest Court of Criminal Appeal

DIWAN-E- RISALAT Highest Court of Civil Appeal

SAADRE JEHAN’S COURT Formed In 1248 in Place of Chief

Justice's Court Headed by Chief Quazi)

COURT OF DIWAN-E-SIYASAT To Deal with Rebels

MUGAL PERIOD(1526-1750)

EMPEROR’S COURTApex Civil & Criminal Cases

COURT OF CHIEF QUAZICourt of Chief Justice

COURT OF QUAZISLocal Civil & Criminal Matters

DIWAN-E-ALAChief Revenue Court

Privy Council1872-1949

Federal Court (1937 - 26th January 1950)

Mayor’s Court Bombay

Mufassil Faujdari Adalat

Mufassil Diwani Adalat

Mayor’s Court Calcutta

Mayor’s Court Madras

Sadar Nizamat Adalat

Sadar Diwani Adalat

British Period:Pre-Independence Period

Supreme Court

High Courts

Subordinate Courts or Lower Courts in District Level

Civil Courts

Lok Adalats

Village Panchayats

Criminal Court Specialized TribunalsAppellate Trib. for ElectricityCentral Administrative Trib.Central Excise Ser. Tax App.Debts Rec. Trib.-I, Chennai

Intellectual Pro. App., ChennaiIncome Tax Appellate Trib.Railway Claims Tribunal

Indian Judiciary(Post-Independence Period)

“Legal Education is essentially a multi-disciplined, multi-purpose education which can develop the human resources and idealism needed to strengthen the legal system…A judicial officer, a product of such education would be able to contribute to national development and social change in a much more constructive manner”

S P Sathe

Status of Legal Education & Research in India

THE ADVOCATES ACT, 1961

BAR COUNCIL OF INDIA, 1983

NLS BANGALORE: FIRST LAW SCHOOL, 1986

CURRENTLY 17 LAW SCHOOLS & 900 LAW COLLEGES & UNIVERSITIES IN INDIA

Genesis of Legal Profession in India

Sources of Law

Basic Pillars Of Legal Research

Legislation

Case Laws

Law Reform Reports

Treaties

Legal Journals &

Scholarships

Primary Sources

Primary Resources

Constitution of India Constituent Assembly Debates

Law Reforms Reports Law Commission Reports Committee/Commission Reports

Legislation Bare Acts/Manuals/Local Acts Parliamentary Debates Parliamentary Bills Gazettes

Treaties Indian Treaties Series International Indian Treaty Council

Case Law Supreme Court of India Judgments High Courts of Indian States Judgments District Courts & Tribunals Decisions

Law Journals Academic Journals Reporting Journals Journals containing only Legislative materials such as

Acts, Rules, Notifications

Name Of Journal Publisher Frequency Format

Civil and Military Law Journal Deep and Deep Quarterly Print

Cochin University Law Review School of Legal Studies Cochin  University of Science Technology, Cochin

Yearly Print

Crime in India National Crime Records Bureau, Ministry of Home Affairs

Yearly Print

Delhi Law Review Faculty of Law, University of Delhi Yearly Print

Environmental Law & Practice Review NALSAR University of Law Yearly Print+Online

Journal of India Law Institute (JILI) Indian Law Institute, Delhi Yearly Online

India Journal of Criminology & Criminalities National Institute Of Criminology & Forensic Science

Quarterly Print+Online

Indian Bar Review Bar Council of India Trust Yearly Print

Indian Journal of Constitutional and Parliamentary Studies

The Institute Of Constitutional and Parliamentary Studies, Delhi

Quarterly Print+Online

Indian Journal of Intellectual Property Rightshttp://www.niscair.res.in/

CSIR-National Institute of Science Communication and Information (NISCAIR)

Bimonthly Print+Online

Academic Law Journals

Reporting JournalsName of Reporting Journal Publishers ID Publisher Frequency

All India High Court Cases AIHC AIR Nagpur Monthly

All India Reporter AIR AIR, Nagpur Monthly

Arbitration Law Reporter ARBLR ALR, New Delhi Monthly

Company Cases CompCasCompany Law Institute of India Ltd.

Monthly

Company Law Journal Comp L J AIR Nagpur Monthly

Consumer Protection Judgments CPJ DLT Publication Monthly

Corporate Law Adviser CLA Jus Scriptum Magnus Fortnightly

Criminal Law Journal CriLJ O K Seth & Co. Monthly

Divorce and Matrimonial Cases DMC DLT Publication Monthly

Income Tax Reporter ITRCompany Law Inst. of India Monthly

Indian Law Reports ILR Registry of High Courts Monthly

Labour Law Journal LLJ Wadhwa Nagpur Monthly

Supreme Court Cases SCC Eastern Book Co. Weekly

Supreme Court Reporter SCR Supreme Court of India Weekly

Secondary Sources

Commentaries on Specific Laws

Secondary Resources

Title of Book Author PublisherAnnual Survey of Indian Law ILI Indian Law Institute

Constitution of India P. M. Bakshi Universal Law Publishing

Code of Civil Procedure Mulla LexisNexis Butterworth India

Constitution of India V. N. Shukla Eastern Book Co.

Commentaries of Indian Penal Code K. D. Gaur LexisNexis Butterworth IndiaGeneral Principles of Criminal Law K.N.C. Pillai Eastern Book Co.

Law of Civil Procedure S. C. Sarkar Wadhwa and Co.

Human Rights and Inhuman Wrong V.K. Krishna Iyer B R publishing

Human Rights in Constitutional Law D. D . Basu LexisNexis Butterworth India

Law Digests/ Encyclopedias

Secondary Resources

Title Author Publisher

Complete Digest of Supreme Court Cases Surendra Malik Eastern Book Co.

AIR Supreme Court Monthly Digest Editors(AIR) AIR Pvt. Ltd

Direct Tax Digest Editors(Taxmann) Taxmann Publication

40 Years Digest on Arbitration Cases S. M. Goel Arbitration Law

Labour Law Digest Editors(AIR) Wadhwa & Co.

Halsbury’s Laws of India --------------- LexisNexis Butterworth

Encyclopedia of Statutory Rules under Central Acts Malik and Manchanda Delhi Law House

Supreme Court on Company Cases Jus-Scriptum Corporate Law Adviser

Advanced Law Lexicon P. Ramanatha Aiyar LexisNexis Butterworth Wadhwa

Concise Law Dictionary P. Ramanatha Aiyar LexisNexis Butterworth Wadhwa

Tertiary Sources

Tertiary Resources

Index to Indian Legal Journal Articles

Equal Citation Indices

Directories

Title Author Publisher FrequencyIndex to Indian Legal Periodicals ILI Indian Law Institute YearlyIndex to Indian & Foreign Legal Articles

NLU, Delhi National Law University, Delhi Yearly

Title Publisher

Supreme Court of India, Comparative Table – Nominal Table Hindustan Publication, Delhi

Title Publisher

Directory of Law Colleges in India Indian Law Institute

Directory of Universities and Colleges in India Association of Indian Universities

Commercial Databases Public Domain

Legal Resources

ACCESSING INDIAN LEGAL INFORMATION IN THE DIGITAL ENVIRONMENT

Commercial Databases

SCC OnlineWeb Edition

www.scconline.co.in

Manupatrawww.manupatra.com

Westlaw Indiawww.westlawindia.com

Lexis® Indiawww.lexisnexis.co.in

Commercial Databases

Covering Judgment of Supreme Court of

India (1950 -till date) & All High CourtsPrivy Council- Indian Appeals Cases

(1872-1949)Tribunals’ DecisionsCentral Legislation, Bylaws and

Regulations of IndiaConstituent Assembly Debates of IndiaLaw Commission of India ReportsInternational MaterialEnglish Reports (1865- till date)Weekly Law Reports (1951 -till date)Human Rights Treaties & ConventionsAcademic Legal Articles published in

SCC Law Report, Practical Lawyers and

Law Magazine.

SCC Online Web Edition

Commercial DatabasesWestlaw India

Supreme Court of India Judgments High Courts Judgments

Tribunal Decisions Central Legislation of India

Legislation of Indian States Legal News and Current Awareness

Commercial DatabasesManupatra

Supreme Court cases from 1950

onwardsHigh Court judgments of all States

Judgments from Tribunals and

Commissions

Central Bare Acts (including

amendments from 1878 onwards)

Notifications, Circulars of Ministries and

Departments of of Government of India

Bills and Ordinance Parliament of IndiaLaw Commission of India Reports

Court Forms and Draft AgreementsE-Books published by ManupatraAcademic Legal ArticlesLaw Dictionary and Legal Maxims

Commercial DatabasesLexis® India

Supreme Court of India Judgment

1950 to till date21 High Courts of Indian State

Judgments1100 Central Bare Acts since 1878 of

IndiaBills and Ordinance of Parliament of

IndiaAcademic Legal ArticlesLaw Dictionary and Legal MaximsExtensive library of books from each

area of law in a fully searchable format.

Content Coverage SCCOnline Manupatra.com Westlaw India Lexis® India

Case Laws Supreme Court 1950 → 1950 → 1950 → 1950 →

All High Courts 21 High Court 21 High Court 20 High Courts 21 High Courts

Tribunals 04 24 14 No Privy Council Yes (Since 1914) Yes Yes Yes

LegislationCentral Act (Bare Acts) Yes Yes Yes YESState Acts No 14 States Covered No YesNotification & Circulars No Yes No No

Bills and Ordinances No Yes Yes (Ordinance) YesReports

Yes Yes No NoE Books

No 13 e- Books(Own Publication)

No Yes

ArticlesArticles Published in SCC

and Practical LawyerNational Law School of

Indian ReviewNo Yes

Commercial DatabasesComparative Table Showing Content Coverage of Indian Legal Databases

Public Domain Legal Resources: A Web Tool for Free Access to Indian Legal Information

Legislation

Indian Codewww.indiacode.nic.in

PRS Legislative Searchwww.prsindia.org

Parliament of India Debateswww.loksabha.nic.in

Public Domain Resources

Legislation/Code Search

India Code:www.indiacode.nic.in

Bill Search

Current Developments in Bills

PRS Legislative Search www.prsindia.org

Parliamentary Debates (Lok Sabha)

Parliamentary Debates (Rajya

Sabha)

Parliament of India Debateswww.parliamentof indian.nic.in

Public Domain Resources

Indian Judicial Pronouncements

Judgment Information System

www.judis.nic.in

Indian Kanoonhttp://www.indiankanoon.org

Indian Courts

www.indiancourts.nic.in

Link to Other High Courts, District Courts

& Tribunals

Multiple Search

Options Party Name Search Option in Supreme court of

India

Judgment Information System www.judis.nic.in

Advanced Search

Types of Information available

Indian Kanoonwww.indiankanoon.org

Law Reform Reports

Law Commission of India Reportshttp://lawcommissionofindia.nic.in/

National Human Rights Commission, India Reportshttp://nhrc.nic.in/

National Women Commission Reportshttp://ncw.nic.in/frmPubReport.aspx

National Commission for SC/ST http://ncsc.nic.in/index1.asp?linkid=154

Public Domain Resources

Latest Reports

Archival Collection of Reports

Law Commission of India Reportswww.lawcommissionofindia.nic.in

NHRC Documents

National Human Rights Commission, Indiawww.nhrc.nic.in

Treaties

Bilateral Documents of India http://www.mea.gov.in/mystart.php?id=5305

Indian Treatieshttp://www.liiofindia.org/in/other/treaties/INTSer/

International India Treaty Councilhttp://treatycouncil.info/home.htm

Public Domain Resources

Public Domain ResourcesLegal Journals and Scholarships

Indian Police Journalhttp://bprd.nic.in/index3.asp?sslid=358&subsublinkid=115&lang=1

Indian Journal of Law & Tech.http://www.liiofindia.org/in/journals/INJlLawTech/

Indian Law Institute Law Reviewhttp://www.ili.ac.in/lawreview.htm

India Law Journalhttp://indialawjournal.com/current_issue.html

Journal of National Human Rights Commission

http://nhrc.nic.in/nhrc.htm

Journal of Parliamentary Affairshttp://164.100.47.132/lssnew/JPI/JPI.htm

Crime in Indiahttp://ncrb.nic.in/ciiprevious/main.htm

Journal of Intellectual Property Rights

http://www.niscair.res.in/

Legal Services Indiahttp://legalserviceindia.com

NALSAR Law Reviewhttp://www.liiofindia.org/in/journals/NALSARLawRw/

Non-Government Organizations’ Initiatives in India

Legal Information Institute of India

www.liiof india.org

India Togetherwww.indiatogether.org

Layers Club Indiawww.lawyersclubindia.com

Legally Indiawww.legallyindia.com

Legal Indiawww.legalindia.com

Vakil No.1www.vakilno1.com

Laws of Indiawww.lawsofindia.com

Human Rights Initiativeswww.humanrightsinitiatives.org

Helpline Lawwww.helplinelaw.com

The Centre for the Internet & Society

http://cis-india.org/

Public Domain Resources

The Legal Information Institute of India (LII of India) <www.liiofindia.org> is an international standard, free-

access and non-profit, comprehensive online collection of Indian legal information.

Aim: Free access to all types of Indian legal information to benefit the Indian public, lawyers, businesses & researchers, and international users who need to know about India law particularly valuable to those who are less well-off Partners: Six Leading Law Universities & IIT Kharagpur.Data Providers: Data provided primarily by Indian courts & government agencies – builds on pioneering work of NIC & JUDIS, NGOs etc.

Legal Information Institute of Indiawww.liiofindia.org

LII of India is part of a global free access to law community, making Indian law more accessible to the

world

The 34th member of the Free Access to Law Movement

WorldLII, CommonLII & AsianLII portals with 20 other LIIs across the

globe

Indian law on LII of India can be searched from them

Hypertext links and international citator connect contents

Legal Information Institute of Indiawww.liiofindia.org

Case law - over 300,000 post-Independence cases from 37 Courts & Tribunals

Legislation - the India Code from 1836, + 60 State & Territory databases

Legal scholarship (500+ articles) from 10 Indian law journals , and elsewhere

Law reform reports

Bilateral treaties (800+) from the Foreign Ministry and the UNTS

151 databa

ses

Pillars of LII of India

All 151 databas

es searcha

ble simultaneously

or separat

ely

Cases and

legislation

together from every

State or Territor

y

Powerful search engine – Result

s can be

ranked by

relevance,

date, citation

s etc

Hypertext links from

references to cases

or legislati

on

LawCite Citator tracks

all citation

s of cases and

articles

What value does a LII add?

Comparative Analysis:

Commercial Legal Databases &

Public Domain Resources

Types of Law Libraries in India

Academic Law Libraries

Courts Libraries

Department of Law & Justice Libraries

Bar Associations Libraries

Law Practitioners Libraries

Growth & Development of Law Libraries in India

S. No. Name of the University/ Institutions/ Colleges

1 Amity Law School Library (Affiliated to GGS IP University, Delhi) Noida, Delhi NCR Region

2 Campus Law Centre Library, Faculty of Law, University of Delhi, North Campus, New Delhi

3 Centre for the Study of Law and Governance Library, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

4 Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Law Department Library, Dwarka, New Delhi

5 Indian Law Institute Library: Deemed University, Bhagwan Das Road, New Delhi

6 Jamia Milia Islamia University, Law Library, Jamia Nagar, New Delhi

7 Law Centre- I Library, Faculty of Law, University of Delhi, North Campus, New Delhi

8 Law Centre- II Library, Faculty of Law, University of Delhi, South Campus, New Delhi

9 National Law University Delhi, Justice T.P.S Chawla Library, Dwarka, New Delhi.

10 Vivekananda Institute of Professional Studies (Affiliated to GGS IP University), New Delhi

USER POPULATION Growth & Development of Law Libraries in Delhi

Use of Computers for Legal Research

Used; 96.6

Not Used; 3.4

Commercial Databases (23.7%)

Public Domain Legal Resources (27.5%)

Both Commercial and PDLRs 43.2%

Preference in Using Databases for Legal Research

Not Responded 5.7%

User Awareness :Public Domain Resources in Law

Open Search Through Search

Engines

Government Websites

Institutional Websites NGO Portals0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Case Law Search Legislative Search Legal Article Search

Law Reform Reports

Treaties0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Preference : Commercial Databases & Public Domain Resources

Agree

Dis Agree

68.8

25.4

Where PDRs are Defi-cient in Comparison to Commercial Databases

65%

35%

Satisfaction in Providing PDRs in place of Commercial

Databases

Satisfied Not SatisfiedAgree Not Agree

87.5

12.5

Whether Scholarly In-formation must be avail-

able in Public Domain

Preference : Commercial Databases & Public Domain Resources

Findings

96.6 % Users prefer Computer Assisted Legal Research (CALR) for their routine research work.

43.2% Academic Law Library users use commercial databases as well as public domain resources for their research.

86.6% of users use search engines like Google, Yahoo etc. for availing information through open internet search. 74% access government websites and 72.5 % of users use institutional websites, 49% access NGO & other web information.34.1% users prefer to access commercial databases for case law search whereas the users prefers to access PDRs for other legal search.

87.5% says scholarly information must be available in Public Domain, 68.8% agree that PDRs are still deficient in comparison to commercial databases

The global access to information is essential for socioeconomic development and for promoting the rule of law.

Indian Government should support the Montreal Declaration on free access to law as a fundamental right for democratization of information.

The Electronic Databases should be designed more comprehensively and especially considering the need and requirement of all stakeholders of law.

There should be a networking of libraries supporting cooperation in sharing digital commons and promoting information exchange.

Law librarians must be involved in classroom teaching in support of legal research techniques.

Suggestions

Contd……

More focus should be given to “Law Libraries Conferences And Seminars” to inculcate latest developments and techniques in the librarians. There should be provided a single platform for all stockholders of information to address discuss and deliberate all issues of importance and betterment of legal research in the digital age.

On the model of International Association Of Law Libraries and American Association of Law Libraries, the librarians of leading law schools must establish Indian Law Libraries Association for looking after the interests of law libraries in India.

Department of Library And Information Science of Universities in India must introduce a special paper for degree/diploma programmes for law librarianship.

Open Access or Public Domain Resources must be strengthened by making it more authentic and informative, comprehensive and integrated. A prescribed rules and regulations must be framed for establishing standards among information available in open access initiatives.

Suggestions

•The users of academic law libraries are more inclined towards public domain resources as compared to commercial databases for legal research. •Government and institutional websites are considered as authentic sources of information.• 87.5 per cent of users point out that there is an urgent need to strengthen the PDRs as some of the legal information is still considered deficient in terms of authentication as well as content coverage as compared to commercially availability of information.

Conclusion

INTERNATONAL LAW REPORTS & JOURNALS

Stacking racks for reference & text books STUDY CARRELS & SITTING ARRANGEMENT

INNER VIEW OF THE LIBRARY

Thank You

JUSTICE T.P.S. CHAWLA LIBRARYNational Law University, Delhi

Inauguration of Justice T.P.S. Chawla Library 14th August 2010