EasyFind Win: A Friendly Retrieval System for Legal Documentation

• Autore: Maurizio Leante
• Pagine: 129-152

Page 129

@Introduction

The increasingly capillary dissemination of information tools, together with the new opportunities provided by technology, has radically changed the philosophy of the approach towards the use of information systems.

Due to technological constraints, first generation systems had to' be focused on the kest use of the computer's resources, almost placing the mser in second place and forcing him to be subject to strict syntactical rules and to resort to cryptic and complex languages in order to reach his objectives.

Today, on the contrary, the computer may.be considered as a tool the use of which does not require the user to adapt his mental processes for approaching the formalization of knowledge underlying applications.

The aim of Italgiure-Find is to offer the user an integrated information system on legal documentation through a data bank that stores 4 million documents subdivided into more than 50 databases. Apart from the wide spectrum of documentation made available, the peculiarity of the system can be found in the high level of integration that allows the mser to mavi-gate in the documentary database through links of a hypertext kind, For example, it is possible to follow the links existing between documents smch as referrals to articles of a law expressly stated in a case note, the judicial precedents in conformity with them or dissenting from them3 the legislative evolution of a regulation or its enforceability on the basis of decisions of the Constitutional Court,

The user interface, which has been called EasyFind, allows for the shift from a type of dialogue characterized by very strict or specific syntax to a more intuitive kind of retrieval through the use of graphics and menus that Page 130 do not oblige the user to make great efforts to remember procedures or to constantly consult a manual

The philosophy used for developing the interface was that of ensuring a simplification of the carrying out of search functions, reaching the objective of requiring less time, effort, training in its use, adhering to the philosophy of inforfmation systems of the last generation without foregoing the wealth of functionality, efficiency and high level of specialization reached during the course of 20 years by Italgiure-Find.

The dialogue with the user begins with the presentation of the four legal domains into which the data bank is logically divided (Case Law, Legislation, Bibliography, and Legal Authmity) which, after the choice of the domain and subsequently of the specific data base, is followed by the activation of the link through the host and with the opening of a search window.

All the opportunities for retrieval permitted by the context can always be found in the interaction windows, also enabling inexpert users to resort to advanced functions which, due to their complexity in use, had restricted the availability of the entire spectrum of Italgiure's potentialities to only more expert users.

Among these, 'hypertext navigationi is particularly significant, It is very simple to carry out in EasyFind by selecting with a mouse the parts of the document being displayed which are highlighted in a different colour and that trigger the retrieval process relating to other documents. Another important opportunity that EasyFind provides is that the user can save the documents obtained as a result of the search on his own (hard or floppy) disk: this allows him to work on them later, adding part of them in the drafting of his own document through any word processor or'to build his own database.

The initial version of EasyFind was implemented in 1988, adhering totally to the paradigm of object-oriented programming. Even then an interaction modality was adopted which is analogous to that which has become a standard today as a result of the diffusion of Windows. The current version was transported into Smalltalk/Windows, maintaining the architecture and enriching it with the new functions that, in the meantime, had been developed for Find.

@1. A Graphic Interface for Legal, Databases

The widest possible diffusion of legal documentation coupled with an Increase in the number of potential users, i.e. not only legal experts but Page 131 also those who must enforce the law and comply with its provisions can only be achievied through a user-friendly research tool which can offer "global legal data", access to different sources, through al the existing legal databanks, by using a single language.

This is the challenge of the EasyFind Win project, carried out at the Electronic Documentation Centre of the Supreme Court of Cassation, based on a project of Judge Floretta Rolled. The author has personally tested the effectiveness of this project, whose software was designed by Unysis. EasyFind Win is a graphic interface, developed in a Windows environment, that allows an easy access to the rigid and complicated consulting system of one of the major legal databanks in Europe: Jtalgiure-Find.

The EasyFind Win software has been developed in Smaltalk/V5 a programming language of the fifth generation, based on object-oriented programming techniques. It is perfectly integrated in the Windows environment and requires a 386 p.c, with 4 Mb. R.A.M., a mouse and the common Windows specifications or requisites.

In Italy there are now several important on-line legal databanks like Guritel, the electronic version of the Official Gazette, or many others - for the Chambre of Deputies and the Senate - edited under selected topics on CD-Rom; all these data banks are usually characterized as complex, so a good knowledge of the content of the data bank is required.

The purpose of the EasyFind Win graphic interface is to allow users to carry out their searches through the data bank, regardless of their specific knowledge about the Italguire-Find query language. Users must be familiar with the mouse and correctly define their search targets.

The interface shows four major research areas; 1) decisions of the Courts; 2) law; 3) bibliography and doctrine; 4) utility files, The law area...