e-Law — Meeting No. 6

I. The framework for unit 6

• The compilation and dissemination of codes
• Statutes
• Regulations
• Local ordinances
  
  
• How administrative regulations and municipal ordinances differ from statutes (or administrative agencies and units of local government differ from state legislatures)
  
  
• The role of private entities in law-formation and how that bears on dissemination
  
  
• The spatial dimension of regulatory and municipal law (of maps that have legal effect)
  

II. How administrative regulations and municipal ordinances differ from statutes

• How they are similar
• Coherent, orderly structure (the product of compilation, by whom?)
• Same issue of how to deal with time
• Glossed by case law and also interpretive agency material
  
  
• Some key differences
  
• The product of widely distributed lawmaking authority
• The regulatory process is more completely prescribed, including the process of dissemination (not so true of municipal ordinances)
• The market for full compilations had produced far less satisfactory results prior to the nineteen nineties
• In some state agencies and countless communities the capacity for informed and effective lawmaking and subsequent compilation is limited
• On some technical subjects the practice of incorporating and giving binding legal effect to privately produced codes is far more common
  

III. From 1995 to 2005 (the impact of CD-ROM publication and the Web)

• 1995: State administrative codes, a sampling
• CA (Barclay's) - $2,578 in print; $1,900 CD
• IN (West) - $188 in print; $300 CD
• IA (state) - $1,035 in print; no CD
• ME (Weil) - $2,351 in print; no CD
• MO (state) - $330 in print; $99 CD (Compass Data Systems)
• NJ (West) - $1,250 in print; $795 CD
• NY (LCP) - $1,895 in print; no CD
• None of the above on the major online systems
  
  
• 1995: Municipal codes
• Seven companies specializing in publishing municipal ordinances generally combined with a host of related consulting services
• Municipal Code Corp. the largest with over 2,000 codes in 47 states
• Many smaller communities muddling through on their own, generally with poor results
  
  
• 2005: State administrative codes
• Increasingly on Wexis
• LexisNexis has acquired Weil (publisher of 15 state administrative code)
• Generally included on state law CDs
• At least 37 states provide free and open access to their codes on the Web - NASS
  
  
• 2005: Municipal codes
• Most, if not all, of the municipal code publishers offer their public customers digital dissemination -- e.g., Municode.com (Dayton) and General Code (Ithaca)
• LexisNexis has entered this field
• Some municipalities have found they don't need a publisher in this new environment -- e.g., Walport, OR (population 2,050)
• Quantum shift in the accessibility of local law to citizens, lawyers, and outsiders in many (CA, nationwide) but by no means all municipalities (e.g., Binghamton)
• Some include zoning and other land-use maps
• Chicago
• Snohomish County
• Cookville, TN
  
  
• Best practices? Where a state or municipality has done "a good job" what are the pay offs?
  

IV. Indexing and selling geographically dispersed law?

• The Google map thought experiment and Fastcase: selling bits of law to the public
  

V. Incorporating privately drafted codes or standards in regulations or municipal ordinances?

• An example:
  
  Rule 1.3. Indiana Plumbing Code, 1999 Edition 675 IAC 16-1.3-1 Title; availability Authority: IC 22-13-2-2 Affected: IC 22-12; IC 22-13; IC 22-14; IC 22-15; IC 36-7-2-9
  
  Sec. 1. (a) This rule shall be known as the Indiana Plumbing Code, 1999 Edition, and shall be published, except for incorporated documents, by the fire and building services department, for general distribution and use under that title. Wherever the term "this code" is used within this rule, it shall mean the Indiana Plumbing Code, 1999 Edition. (b) The Indiana Plumbing Code, 1999 Edition, is available for purchase from the Fire and Building Services Department, Indiana Government Center-South, 402 West Washington Street, Room W221, Indianapolis, Indiana 46204-2739. (Fire Prevention and Building Safety Commission; 675 IAC 16-1.3-1; filed Jun 30, 1999, 2:53 p.m.: 22 IR 3382; readopted filed Nov 1, 2005, 3:00 p.m.: 29 IR 896) 675 IAC 16-1.3-2 Adoption by reference Authority: IC 22-13-2-2 Affected: IC 22-12; IC 22-13; IC 22-14; IC 22-15; IC 36-7-2-9
  
  Sec. 2. That certain document, being titled as the Uniform Plumbing Code, 1997 Edition, published by the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials, 20001 Walnut Drive South, Walnut, California 91789-2825, be and the same is hereby adopted by reference, as if fully set out in this rule, save and except those amendments made in this rule. (Fire Prevention and Building Safety Commission; 675 IAC 16-1.3-2; filed Jun 30, 1999, 2:53 p.m.: 22 IR 3382; readopted filed Nov 1, 2005, 3:00 p.m.: 29 IR 896)
  
  
• A second example: CA Administrative Code, Title 24? (Title 24)
  
  
• A third example: FL Building Code
  
  
• Some sources:
• International Code Council
• National Fire Prevention Association
• American Society of Mechanical Engineers
  
  
• The copyright puzzle
  
  
• Why and why not?

VI. Week after break (e-filing: What are the principal issues on the input side?)

• Readings
• Assigned: Fenwick & Brownstone, Staudt, materials on CM/ECF at the Administrative Office of the Courts site
• Background: NCSC resource page
• Submission: Compare efiling implementation in the federal district court of your state to implementation in the trial courts of general jurisdiction in your state
  
  
• Before break I want a short statement of your proposed paper project. That should consist at minimum of:
• One paragraph describing its scope
• A second paragraph outlining a research plan