The document discusses adapting the Parallel Table of Authorities (PTOA) from the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations for use in a digital environment. The PTOA currently exists as specialized legal metadata that links statutes to related regulations but has several obstacles to being processed by software, including ambiguous relationships, lack of granularity, directionality issues, and inconsistent data quality. The document proposes addressing these issues by expressing the PTOA in XML or RDF/OWL to make the relationships explicit and machine-readable in order to enable new uses and applications of the PTOA in the digital domain.

1. Examples of Specialized Legal Metadata to the Digital Environment, From the U.S. Code of Federal RegulationsThomas R. Bruce, Legal Information InstituteRobert C. Richards, Jr., University of Washingtondg.o 2011: 12th Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research, 14 June 2011, University of Maryland, College Park http://dgo2011.dgsna.org/

2. The Problem: “Islands”Governments create multiple sources of lawThe sources are interrelated, but exist as isolated “islands” of legal knowledge & informationHow can one efficiently discover all sources of law related to a particular source of law?

3. The Problem: ExampleExample: How to find all regulations issued pursuant to US Food, Drug, & Cosmetic Act, 21 U.S.C. ch.9?Two “Islands”: The statute is in the U.S. Code, while the regulations are in the Code of Federal Regulations

4. One Solution: “Ponts”In the print environment, specialized legal metadata sources were created, to make explicit relationships between different sources of law. We call these sources “ponts,” because they function as “bridges” between “islands” of legal information

5. Ponts: Proprietary vs. Public DomainProprietary ponts are of limited use in digital environment because of usage restrictions & license feese.g., West’s American Digest System

6. Public domain ponts—like those created by U.S. federal government, which are free from copyright, 17 U.S.C. § 105—lack usage restrictions & license fees, have great potential in digital domaine.g., PTOA, CONAN, Cong. Rec. History of Bills

7. Example of a Pont: The PTOAParallel Table of Authorities & Rules (PTOA)Metadata in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR)Links statutes to regulations they authorizeCreated by U.S. federal government, public domain, free from use restrictions/license fees

8. PTOA: Excerpt1 U.S.C. 112.................................................................1 Part 2 112a--112b....................................................22 Part 181 113.................................................................1 Part 2 133..............................................................32 Part 151 2 U.S.C. 136..............................................................36 Parts 701, 702, 703, 705 170..............................................................36 Part 705

9. PTOA in Print: Human-DependentMost ponts created for print environment require human intervention to ensure connection between the different legal sources they seek to linkPTOA in print requires human intervention

10. PTOA: Preparing It for DigitalGoals:Disintermediation:Make PTOA processable by software without human interventionFoster interoperability & re-useCreate “generative resource” (Zittrain)Foster innovation

11. PTOA: Preparing It for Digital (cont’d)Recommended formats:XML RDF/OWLWhy XML & RDF/OWL?Open, international standardsWidely used and understoodEnable re-use and interoperabilityEnable “generative” usesFoster innovation: developers are equipped to create new systems to process them

12. PTOA: Use CasesInformation Retrieval & DiscoveryBidirectional discoveryRevelation of implicit relationshipsAutomated retrievalCross-language retrievalLinked DataScholarly ResearchPublic AdministrationeParticipationGISMachine Learning: Automatic Creation of Ponts

13. PTOA: Obstacles to Preparation for Digital UseSemantics (Ambiguity)GranularityDirectionalityData Quality

14. PTOA Obstacles: Semantics1. Relationships between sources are ambiguousRelationships represented in a PTOA row may be of four possible types:“Is Express Authority For”“Is Implied Authority For”“Is Applied By”“Is Interpreted By”

15. PTOA Obstacles: Semantics (cont’d)2. Some PTOA rows list multiple sources on one or both sides:1 U.S.C. 112..................................................................................1 Part 2 112a--112b.................................................................22 Part 181 113..................................................................................1 Part 2 133...............................................................................32 Part 151 2 U.S.C. 136............................................................................. 36 Parts 701, 702, 703, 705 170...............................................................................36 Part 705

16. PTOA Obstacles: Semantics (cont’d)Result: In many PTOA rows, relationships between sources are multiple and complexResult: In most rows, the precise meaning of relationships is implicit & often not discernible by software

17. PTOA Obstacles: GranularityPTOA regulation cites refer only to the “Part” level of CFRBut the relationships intended to be represented in PTOA usually occur at more granular levels: “section” or “sub-section”

18. PTOA Obstacles: Granularity: Example“1 U.S.C. […]“112a--112b................................22 Part 181”1 U.S.C. section 112b (specifically subsection (f)) expressly provides authority for components of 22 C.F.R. part 181 (specifically sections 181.1 through 181.7). 1 U.S.C. section 112a (specifically subsection (d)) implicitly provides authority for components of 22 C.F.R. part 181 (specifically sections 181.8 and 181.9).

19. PTOA Obstacles: Granularity (cont’d)So each PTOA row must be analyzed & divided into multiple rows at accurate level of granularity

20. PTOA Obstacles: DirectionalityIn PTOA, retrieval and discovery can only occur in one direction: from statute to regulation1 U.S.C. […] 112a--112b................................22 Part 181

21. PTOA Obstacles: DirectionalityBut in digital world, PTOA could add great value if it were bidirectional: if it enabled discovery from regulations to statutes, as well as from statutes to regulations

22. PTOA Obstacle: Data QualityProduction of PTOA is decentralized: each individual agency creates rows for its regulationsResult: Inconsistent quality of PTOA dataNeed: For Digital PTOA to express editor’s evaluation of data quality, in machine-processable metadata

23. Digital PTOA: XML Example: Barebones, No Fixes<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <ptoa> <ptoaentry> <!-- Example 1 --> <authority> <uscode><title>1</title><sectrange><start>112a</start> <end>112b</end></sectrange></uscode> </authority><authorized> <cfr> <title>22</title> <part>181</part> </cfr> </authorized></ptoaentry></ptoa></?xml>

24. Digital PTOA: XML: Now with URNs, Granularity, Ranges<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <ptoa><ptoaentry><authority type="implicit_authority"><uscode><title>1</title><section urn="urn:lex:us:federal:codified.statute:2010;1.usc.112a@official;house.gov:en$text-html:legal.information.institute">112a</section><sectionfragment>d</sectionfragment></uscode></authority> <authorized> <cfr> <title>22</title> <part urn="urn:lex:us:federal:codified.regulation:2010;22.cfr.181@official;gpo.gov:en$text-xml">181</part> <section urn="urn:lex:us:federal:codified.regulation:2010;22.cfr.181.8@official;gpo.gov:en$text-xml">181.8</section> <section urn="urn:lex:us:federal:codified.regulation:2010;22.cfr.181.9@official;gpo.gov:en$text-xml">181.9</section> </cfr> </authorized></ptoaentry></ptoa></?xml>

25. Digital PTOA: RDFS/OWL: Bidirectionality & Disambiguation<owl:ObjectPropertyrdf:ID="implicitlyAuthorizes"> <owl:inverseOf> <owl:ObjectPropertyrdf:ID="isImplicitlyAuthorizedBy"/> </owl:inverseOf> <rdfs:rangerdf:resource="#AuthorizedItem"/> <rdfs:domainrdf:resource="#AuthorizingItem"/> <rdfs:subPropertyOf> <owl:ObjectPropertyrdf:ID="isAuthorityRefFor"/> </rdfs:subPropertyOf></owl:ObjectProperty>

26. Digital PTOA: RDFS/OWL: Granularity<owl:ObjectPropertyrdf:ID="hasUSCSectionFragment"> <rdfs:domainrdf:resource="#USCodeSection"/><owl:inverseOf> <owl:ObjectPropertyrdf:ID="isUSCSectionFragmentOf"/></owl:inverseOf><rdfs:rangerdf:resource="#USCodeSectionFragment"/></owl:ObjectProperty>

27. Challenges to Adapting the PTOA for the Digital EnvironmentMuch relevant information is implicit, might not be automatableNeed experiments to determineLikely will require labor by humans trained in lawPossible approach: partial automation: application recommends options to human coders

28. Challenges to Adapting the PTOA for the Digital Environment (cont’d)Inter-coder reliability needs to be tested & kept at high levelPaucity of law-related Linked Data resources, http://legalinformatics.wordpress.com/2009/08/19/linked-data-and-law/

29. Related ResearchEarlier studies of print-based ponts introduced into digital environment: Al-Kofahi et al. (2001); Dabney (1986); McDermott (1986) Findings:a. New uses of ponts arose in digital environment b. Ponts positively influenced retrieval performance

30. Similar ProjectsLegislation.gov.uk (Legislative Information Retrieval): Table of Legislative Effects, CEN MetaLex (legislative status)AGILE (Public Administration System): CEN MetaLex & OWL, http://ceur-ws.org/Vol-582/paper4.pdf

31. Other Ponts to ExamineAlready Known:Congressional Record: “History of Bills & Resolutions,” http://tinyurl.com/432awbwCFR List of Subjects & Subject Index, http://tinyurl.com/3udaqa2United States Code Subject IndexConstitution of the United States Annotated (CONAN), http://tinyurl.com/3w5xm6q

32. Other Ponts to Examine (cont’d)To Be Discovered:Legal information professionals might examine legal research bibliographies & legal research systems to identify additional public domain pontsEspecially state & local jurisdictions, or respecting particular areas of law

33. Digital PTOA: Next StepsSpring 2011: Receive input from colleagues at conferencesSummer & Fall 2011: Build prototype

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