大学 考研 笔记 教案 因特网和比较法.docx

大学 考研 笔记 教案 因特网和比较法.docx

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大学考研笔记教案因特网和比较法

COMPARATIVELAWANDTHEINTERNET

NormannWitzleb,DieterMartiny,UlrichThoelkeandTimFrericks

EuropeanUniversityViadrina,Frankfurt（Oder）

（updatedAugust2002）

Readersareremindedthatthisworkisprotectedbycopyright.Whiletheyarefreetousetheideasexpressedinit,theymaynotcopy,distributeorpublishtheworkorpartofit,inanyform,printed,electronicorotherwise,exceptforreasonablequoting,clearlyindicatingthesource.Readersarepermittedtomakecopies,electronicallyorprinted,forpersonalandclassroomuse.

Contents

1.Introduction

2.LegalinformationontheInternet

2.1Referencematerial

2.2Contentmaterial

2.2.1Primarysources

2.2.2Secondarysources

3.SpecificusefulnessoftheInternetforcomparativelawyers

3.1Accessibility

3.2Searchability

3.3Authenticity

3.4Up-to-dateness

4.HowtosearchlegalmaterialontheInternet

4.1Searchengines

4.2Legalindices

5.The'virtuelleRechtsvergleicher'

5.1Concept

5.2Structure

5.3Scope

5.3.1Legalfields

5.3.2Thecountries

5.4Thecategories

6.Concludingremarks

Notes

1.Introduction

Fortheirdailywork,researchersworkinginacomparativeorinternationalcontextneedamixtureofdifferenttypesofinformation,mainlyonlegislation,courtsandcaselaw,butalsoonlawyers,studyinglawandlegalliterature.Researchinspecialisedforeignlawlibrariesorthecountryitselfis,however,rarelyapossibility,especiallywhenthequestionarisesadhoc.Lackofaccesstoforeignlegalmaterialanddatahastherefore,inthepast,beenamajorhindrancetocomprehensiveandup-to-dateresearch.

Moderninformationtechnologieshelptoovercometheseproblemsandeliminatethedifferenceintimeandspace;theoretically,theygiveeveryoneaccesstotheknowledgeofthewholeworld.Itis,therefore,ofgreatinteresttousethesenewmeansforcomparativeresearch.ThisarticleundertakestogiveasurveyofmaterialonprivatelawinEuropecurrentlyavailableontheInternet

（1）,includingsomereflectionsontheusefulnessoftheInternetinitspresentstateandfunctionalityforthecomparativelawyer.Onamorepracticallevel,thisarticlealsoaimstoportrayandintroducethe'virtuelleRechtsvergleicher',aresearchtooldesignedtoaccommodatethespecificneedsofcomparativelawyersandtoallowstructuredandeasyaccesstothemostinformativelegalsitesinthisfield.

2.LegalinformationontheInternet

ConsideringthevastamountoflegalinformationavailableontheInternetandthenearlyunlimitedvarietyinqualityandcharacter,itishardtofindreasonablecriteriatostructureit.Themostusefulcategorisationseemstobetodistinguishbetween（1.）referencematerial,i.e.sitesthatallowresearchonwhethercertaindocumentsexist,wheretheywerepublishedand/orhowtheycanbeobtainedonpaper,and（2.）contentmaterial,i.e.sourceswhichgivedirectaccesstoelectronicfull-textversionsofdocuments.

2.1Referencematerial

TheInternethasbecomeaverydependablesourceofinformationaboutavailableprintedmaterialandaconvenientaidinestablishingabibliographyonaresearchtopic.Itispossibletofindalmostanyinformationonbooksandlegaljournalsonthenet.MostEuropeannationallibraries（whicharelinkedbythegatewayGabriel

（2））andacademiclibrariesprovideWWWaccesstotheircataloguesallowingsearchesbyformalcriteriasuchastitle,author,yearofpublicationaswellassearchbykeywords.Thecataloguesoflibrarynetworks（ormeta-cataloguessuchastheGermanKarlsruherVirtuelleKatalog（3））allowsimultaneousresearchinallparticipatinglibraries.Thepublishers'orInternetbookshops'cataloguesaswellasindicessuchastheVerzeichnislieferbarerBuecher（4）（indexofavailablebooksintheGermanlanguage）areusefultoolstoremainup-to-dateonthelatestpublicationsthatmaynotyetbeshelvedinthelibraries.

TheincreasingimportanceoftheInternetalsomeansthatithasbecomehardtofindagovernmentdepartment,lawfaculty,researchinstituteorpressuregroupwithoutsomesortofInternetpresence.Eventhoughtheamountofinformationgivenvariesconsiderably,allhomepagescontainsomeformoffunctionormissionstatementandfacilitatecontactsforfurtherinformation.Ithasthereforebecomemucheasiertogetapictureofwhoisworkingonwhat,whotoaskforbackgroundinformationandhowtoobtaincertainmaterial.Also,fororganisersofconferencesithasbecomecommontoprovidedatesanddetailsoftheproceedings,sometimesevenabstractsofthepresentationstoawiderpublicontheInternet.

2.2Contentmaterial

2.2.1Primarysources

MostEuropeancountriesnowpublishnewlegislationtosomeextentontheInternet.Whileparliamentarystatutes-themostimportantsourceoflaw-areusuallypublishedthroughtheirparliamentaryserversorthroughfull-textonlinelegalgazettes,thepracticeastosecondarylegislationdifferswidely.Somecountriesdonotofficiallypublishanysecondarylegislation,whileothersofferextensiveaccesseitheralongsidethepublishedstatutesoronthegovernmentordepartmentalservers.

Inmanycountries,legislationenactedpriortotheestablishmentofonlineaccessisnotpublishedinfulltextontheInternet,butcansometimesbetracedbytitleandsource.Occasionally,thesegapsarefilledbyprivateenterprise（e.g.,from1949onwards,theBundesgesetzblatt（5）hasbeenpublishedasafacsimileversionoftheprintedoriginal）.Apartfromthestatutesthemselves,parliamentaryserversalsooftenprovideimportantinformationonthelegislativeprocess,suchastranscriptsofparliamentarydebates,committeereportsorup-to-dateinformationonthecurrentstateoflegislativeproposals.

Compilationsoflegislationandconsolidatedlegislationaremorelikelytobefoundfromnon-authoritativesourcesonly.Apartfromcommercialdatabanks,itisoftenresearchinstitutesornon-governmentalorganisationsthatprovidethisservice.Animportantmulti-jurisdictionalresourceonlegislationis,e.g.,theformerU.S.HouseofRepresentativesInternetlawlibrary（6）（nowhostedbyanumberoforganisationssuchasLawGuru（7））;afurtherresourceistheInternationalConstitutionalLaw（ICL）（8）databankhostedbytheUniversityofWuerzburg,whichcollatesthetextsoftheconstitutionsandrelatedinformationonalargenumberofcountries.

ThepresenceofcourtsontheInternethasalsorapidlyincreasedinrecentyears.Mostconstitutionalcourtsandsupremecourtshavetheirownhomepage.Whethertheycontainmorethangeneralinformationonthecourtanditsfunctiondependsonthecountryandtheimportanceofjudicialdecisionsinitslegalsystem.Incommon-lawsystems,inparticularintheUSAandAustralia,comprehensiveandwell-structuredaccesshasbecomeamatterofcourse.Aswithlegislation,lacunaeinofficialpublication-especiallywitholderdecisions-areoftenfilledbyprivatedatabanks,withscope,speed,searchoptionsandmethodofaccessdependingontheprovider.Decisionsinspecialisedlegalfieldscanalsobefoundviauniversities,lawfirmsororganisationswithinthefieldconcerned.

2.2.2Secondarysources

TheInternetisalsoofincreasingimportanceasamodeofpublicationforlegalliteratureofinteresttoacademics.However,themajorityofestablishedlegaljournalstodatepresentonlytheircontentpagesonline,whilesomeothersofferatleastselectedarticlesinfulltextasaforetasteoftheirprintededition.Mostonlineliteraturecanthereforebefoundinnewjournalsthatare-liketheEJCL（9）-publishedexclusivelyaselectronicjournals.Thespeedandforcewithwhichthepublishingworldchangesundertheinfluenceofmodernmediahaveledtoafurtherincreaseinthenumberoflawjournals,particularlyatuniversitylevel.Whiletheycanusuallybefoundinlistsofjournals,itisevenhardertokeeptrackorgetholdofthemushroomingnon-refereedlawjournalsandin-housemagazinesoflegalfirmsandorganisations.Theyfrequentlyreportorcommentonrecentcourtdecisionsorreviewareasoflawwithspecialreferencetotheneedsofthepractitionerandthusdonotonlyserveasaforumforcommunicatingwith（prospective）clientsbutalsohelptokeepthoseinterestedinformedaboutthelatestdevelopmentsincertainlegalfields.

ThepublicationoftextbookssolelyontheInternetisstillrare,andwillprobablyremainsofortheforeseeablefuture.Thisisprobablynotonlyforreasonsofcommerceandprestige,butalsoduetotheinconvenienceofhavingtodownloadandreadorprintvastamountsoftext.Thereare,however,laudableexceptionsliketheZivilrechtonline-LehrbuchfuerOesterreichischesBuergerlichesRecht（TextbookonAustrianCivilLaw）byProfessorHeinzBartafromInnsbruck,whichisadvertisedasthefirststudenttextbookontheInternet（10）.Also,agrowingnumberofacademicteachersusetheInternetasateachingaid.Offersrangefrominteractivelearningtoolstoasimplepresentationoflecturenotes,exampapersanddiagramstothestudentsandtointerestedlawyersoutsidetheuniversity.Theseare,ofcourse,primarilydesignedtofituniversitylawcoursesbut-dependingontheirdepthandquality-sometimesallowmorethanafirstoverviewofacertainfieldorproblem.AgoodexampleofthelatterareProfessorWerlauff'spublicationsonvarioussubjectsofDanishbusinesslaw（11）.

Ingeneral,thepublicationofsecondarymaterialisstilldeveloping.Atpresent,itisusuallystilldifficulttopredictwhetherthechanceofcomingacrossrelevantandusefulmaterialwillwarrantthetimespentperusingthenet.Inparticular,'soft'mater