Chapter 8: The Proposal for the Universal Recognition of the Right of Free Access to Public Legal Information as a Substantive Human Right
By Dr. Leesi Ebenezer Mitee, PhD in international human rights law, legal information technology (aspects of legal informatics), indigenous customary law, and indigenous rights and LLM in transborder comparative analysis of free access to public legal information
This Chapter examines the desirability of the universal recognition of the right of free access to public legal information as a human right and therefore as part of a legal framework for improving national and global access to public legal information. It discusses the right of free access to public legal information as a legal right and the importance of its international human rights framework. The Chapter argues that every person has the right of free access to public legal information, which casts a legal and moral duty on every government and every intergovernmental organisation with lawmaking and judicial powers to provide adequate and free access to its laws and law-related public documents. It argues further that every government can afford the provision of adequate access to its public legal information and that the lack of political will to do so is the preeminent factor responsible for inadequate — and in some cases extremely poor — public access. Additionally, this Chapter advocates the universal recognition of the right of free access to public legal information as a human right and makes a proposal for a UN Convention on the Right of Free Access to Public Legal Information. It provides the essential contents of the proposed UN Convention which incorporate the Hague Conference Guiding Principles to be Considered in Developing a Future Instrument 2008. These contents provide valuable input for urgent interim national and regional laws and policies on access to public legal information, pending the Convention’s entry into force. The proposed UN Convention will significantly enhance global access to official legal information that will promote widespread knowledge of the law. It will also facilitate national and transnational legal research and remedy the chronic injustice from liability under inaccessible laws under the doctrine of “ignorance of the law is no excuse” — which is similar to liability under ex post facto and nonexistent laws — and promote the proposed doctrine of “ignorance of inaccessible law is an excuse.”
Keywords: Human right of free access to public legal information, Huricompatisation customary law ascertainment, New human rights-advocacy approach ten criteria for recognising new human rights, Human right of free access to law, United Nations convention on free access to law, Ignorance of inaccessible law is an excuse, Ignorance of the law is no excuse, Human rights-based approach (HRBA), Nationally networked one-stop official public legal information websites, Official public legal information generic top-level domain (.officiallaws gTLD)
Book publisher: Koinonia Legal Research and Book Publishing, The Netherlands
Book website: https://publiclegalinformation.com
Contact email: info@koinonialegal.com
