Chapter 3: An Innovative Analysis of the Persistent Global Problem of Inadequate Access to Public Legal Information and its Root Cause eBook and Book (Paperback)

An Innovative Analysis of the Persistent Global Problem of Inadequate Access to Public Legal Information and its Root Cause

By Dr. Leesi Ebenezer Mitee, PhD in international human rights law, legal information technology (legal informatics), indigenous customary law and indigenous rights

Chapter 3: An Innovative Analysis of the Persistent Global Problem of Inadequate Access to Public Legal Information and its Root Cause in The New Human Right of Free Access to Public Legal Information and its Proposed United Nations Convention (ISBN 9789083108520) which is Volume 1 of the Human Right of Free Access to Public Legal Information Book Series (Publisher: Koinonia Legal Research and Book Publishing, Tilburg, The Netherlands 2020)

Book Chapter Description (Abstract)

People all over the world are denied their right of free access to public legal information whenever they are unable to find, read, know, or use the full and reliable texts of laws and law-related public documents because the governments that have the moral and rule-of-law legal duty to provide adequate access to those legal materials have not done so. Such denial violates several human rights (e.g. the omnibus right of access of justice that includes adequate facilities for the preparation of one’s defence), leads to wrong court judgments from ignorance of the state of the law, and causes grave injustice in applying the doctrine of ignorance of the law is no excuse even when the law is inaccessible and thereby unknowable. This study, in a book chapter, found that inadequate access to official public legal information is a persistent global problem that exists in both developing countries and territories (e.g. Cayman Islands, Uganda, Ghana, Nigeria, Gambia, and Mali) and developed countries (e.g. the United States and the United Kingdom), but it is worse in developing countries. The study devised a qualitative cause-elimination technique that identified the lack of the political will of governments to provide adequate access to their public legal information as the root cause of the problem. The discussion and analytical identification of the root cause of the problem is an original contribution of this study to knowledge in the theory and practice of access to public legal information and the right of free access to law. That root cause identification provided the basis for the appropriate innovative recommendation for its effective solution that is proposed in this study. The study provides new insights into the persistent global problem of inadequate access to public legal information and its diverse manifestations and demonstrates the practical strategies that can help governments worldwide to develop their official public legal information websites that are indispensable to the success of every access to law project. It can therefore help to address the current global hardship in finding and knowing the law, as well as prevent or mitigate the human rights violations and the injustice that are all associated with the problem of inadequate access to law. The study promotes the right of all persons worldwide to know the law that they are bound to obey under the rule of law, ignorance of which is no excuse. It also has law-reform, policy, and practical relevance to public policy experts; political scientists; website designers; lawyers; human rights researchers; human rights advocates and defenders; the judiciary and administrators of justice; legislators; all levels of government (national, state, and local); and regional and international intergovernmental organisations with lawmaking power, including the United Nations and her specialised agencies.

Keywords: Human right of free access to public legal information, Human right of free access to law, Political will and access to law, Huricompatisation customary law ascertainment, Cause-elimination technique in law, Official public legal information websites, Law website design, Ignorance of the law is no excuse (ignorantia juris non excusat), Root cause analysis (RCA), Legal information institutes