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As the schema guide explains, in 1999 they picked XML based on the study from 1996: "Following a 1999 feasibility study on XML/SGML, the Committee on House Adm
by liscovich 13y ago
As the schema guide explains, in 1999 they picked XML based on the study from 1996:
"Following a 1999 feasibility study on XML/SGML, the Committee on House Administration adopted XML as a data standard for the exchange of legislative documents"
http://uscodebeta.house.gov/download/resources/USLM-User-Guide.pdf http://uscodebeta.house.gov/download/resources/USLM-User-Gui...
It took the US Govt 17 years to release 200,000 pages of the US code in XML.
- adregan 13y agoI wonder if 17 years is fast for the government or slow.
- BWStearns 13y agoFast..... sadly
- liscovich 13y agoWe might have to wait even longer for all the common law based on the court rulings to be published in the same format. Not to mention the "secret common law" based on the FISA court rulings.
- pseingatl 13y agoNot sure what format the files are kept in, but it's been done. Several private companies have these behind a paywall:ThompsonWest and Lexis/Nexis are the most well known, but there are others. Don't forget the published caselaw of the fifty states as well as state legislation. The U.S. Code is far from the whole picture.
- bjr- 13y agoSounds about right.
- tianhe 13y agoI think the most time consuming part of the conversion is from text to digital. That's what took so long. Interchanging formats should be relatively easy. Back in 1999, json wasn't even around. IMO in today's API centric, and javascript ruled world. json would be a lot more useful.
- chc 13y agoGiven that it can be mechanically converted to JSON, I have a hard time seeing how JSON would be a lot more useful. "Very slightly more convenient" seems like the most we could reasonably say.
- pseingatl 13y agoI wonder why. The U.S. Code was in electronic format by the 1980's. The Air Force had FLITE, Justice had Juris, and then there's Lexis and Nexis.