Lex (URN)

lex is a type of Uniform Resource Name (URN), that allows accurate identification of laws and other legal norms.

Brazil^[1] and Italy^[2] (Civil law countries) already do an official use of the URN LEX standard draft v0.9,^[3] as a namespace for sources of law.

Syntax

The identifier has a hierarchical structure as follows:^[3]

"urn:lex:"<NSS>

where NSS is the Namespace Specific String composed as follows:

<NSS>::=<jurisdiction>":"<local-name>

where:

<jurisdiction> is the part providing the identification of the jurisdiction, generally corresponding to the country where the source of law is issued.

<local-name> is the uniform name of the source of law in the country or jurisdiction where it is issued; its internal structure is common to the already adopted schemas.

Examples of sources of law identifyed by lex URNs:

urn:lex:it:stato:legge:2003-09-21;456 (Italian act) 
urn:lex:fr:etat:lois:2004-12-06;321 (French act)
urn:lex:es:estado:ley:2002-07-12;123 (Spanish act)
urn:lex:ch;glarus:regiere:erlass:2007-10-15;963 (Glarus Swiss Canton decree)
urn:lex:eu:council:directive:2010-03-09;2010-19-UE (EU Council Directive)
urn:lex:us:federal.supreme.court:decision:1963-03-18;372.us.335 (US FSC decision)

Concrete examples

• urn:lex:br:federal:constituicao:1988-10-05;1988: Brazilian Constitution of 1988.
• urn:lex:br:federal:lei:2008-06-19;11705: Law nº 11.705, of June 19, 2008, known also as "Brazilian Prohibition".
• urn:lex:it:stato:legge:2003-09-21;456 Legge italiana.

References