The UNILAW Database on Uniform Law
Description
Set up by decision of the UNIDROIT Governing Council, the UNILAW database is intended to permit ready access by Governments, judges, arbitrators, practising lawyers and scholars to up-to-date information regarding uniform law conventions and other instruments.The database is bilingual, English and French, and is expected to cover a large number of uniform law instruments.Work has started on the 1956 Convention on the Contract for the International Carriage of Goods by Road (CMR).
As the technological revolution of the last three decades advanced, UNIDROIT realised the potential importance of high quality electronic systems, and particularly of a uniform law information system or database.
Law often follows other applications in capitalising on the opportunities provided by modern technology. This is true of law in general, but is especially true of those areas of law that are mistakenly perceived by many as of no immediate interest to everyday business and social life, that is, international and comparative law. Many developed countries now have databases offering information on domestic law - legislation and case law - but there are relatively few that deal in any systematic way with international law in general or with uniform private law in particular. Furthermore, no single institution has established itself as a focal point for the collection of at least the most important data on major uniform law topics. It is to fill this void that UNIDROIT decided to set up a database on uniform law. The UNIDROIT objective is to establish an electronic source for uniform law with authority and a guarantee of continuity in ultimately covering the whole reach of uniform law.
The urgency of the matter has become increasingly apparent. Over the years, retrieving information, above all up-to-date information, from traditional hard copy and electronic systems has become increasingly difficult.The volume of relevant material is expanding constantly and with ever greater rapidity.
The evidence for the need for such an electronic source of uniform law collected by surveys conducted by the Secretariat inevitably led to the conclusion that there was:
- considerable potential demand from States and their legal advisers, other international organisations, legal practitioners and academics for expeditious and efficient access to a high-quality source of uniform law;
- this demand could not be satisfactorily met from existing hard copy and electronic sources;
- the Institute could usefully fulfil its statutory purposes through the provision of information regarding uniform law. It was a service to the international community that of all international organisations UNIDROIT was in the best position to render; and
- state of the art electronic information technology was now available or becoming available that would allow the Institute to continue better to discharge its uniform law co-ordination and information roles to the international community into the twenty-first century.
Who Benefits?
Lawyers, Judges, Arbitrators, Government departments, Academics Independent researchers and all others interested in or affected by uniform law
Funds Needed
€ 50,000 for computer and other equipment and software
€ 300,00 per annum for legal staff to write case summaries, subscriptions, copyright payments, meetings of experts, and secretarial and other expenses
