Dynamic legal database providing historical and current versions of bodies of law

A computer readable medium encoded with one or more data structures representing an information collection comprising a body of law, the one or more data structures organizing the information collection and facilitating computer access from the computer readable medium of information relating to the body of law, the one or more data structures comprising:

• one or more unique information units, each information unit including at least one part of the body of law, including any different version of the at least one part, and a plurality of topical units, each comprising at least one topic arranged in a scheme for organizing a plurality of interrelated topics;
• an association of each topical unit and the at least one information unit, each topical unit including information relating to the at least one information unit associated therewith;
• and
• an association of temporal information comprising one or more dates indicating the legal applicability of each part of the body of law and different version thereof and the respective information unit in which information unit the respective part and any different version thereof are included.

A computer readable medium encoded with one or more data structures representing an information collection comprising a body of law, the one or more data structures organizing the information collection and facilitating computer access from the computer readable medium of information relating to the body of law, the one or more data structures comprising:

• a plurality of structured documents arranged in a hierarchy of documents comprising documents including a topic or topics of the body of law and documents including a part of the body of law;
• an association of each of the documents including a part of the body of law and temporal information comprising one or more dates indicating the legal applicability of the respective part, wherein a plurality of the parts of the body of law comprises different versions of the same part of the body of law;
• and
• each document that includes a part of the body of law including any different version of that part of the body of law and the temporal information associated with the respective part or version.

A computer readable medium encoded with one or more data structures representing an information collection comprising a body of law, the one or more data structures organizing the information collection and facilitating computer access from the computer readable medium of information relating to the body of law, the one or more data structures comprising:

• a plurality of lower-level structured documents;
• an association of each of a plurality of parts of the body of law and temporal information comprising one or more dates indicating the legal applicability of the respective part, wherein a plurality of the parts of the body of law comprises different versions of the same part of the body of law, the temporal information being different for different versions of the same part of the body of law;
• each lower level structured document including a different part or different version of the same part of the body of law and including the associated temporal information;
• and
• at least one higher level structured document, each lower level structured document being in a hierarchical relationship with at least one higher level structured document which higher level structured document includes information relating to the respective lower level structured document.

A computer readable medium encoded with one or more data structures representing an information collection related to a common subject, the one or more data structures organizing the information collection and facilitating computer access from the computer readable medium of information relating to the common subject, the one or more data structures, comprising:

• a plurality of lower level structured documents;
• an association of each of a plurality of parts of the common subject and temporal information comprising at least one date indicating a state or status with respect to time of the respective part of the common subject, wherein a plurality of the parts of the common subject comprises different versions of the same part of the common subject, the temporal information being different for different versions of the same part of the common subject;
• each lower level structured document including a different part or different version of the same part of the common subject and including the associated temporal information;
• and
• at least one higher level structured document, each lower level structured document being in a hierarchical relationship with at least one higher level structured document which higher level structured document includes information relating to the respective lower level structured document.

A computer readable medium encoded with one or more data structures representing an information collection comprising a body of law, the one or more data structures organizing the information collection and facilitating computer access from the computer readable medium of information relating to the body of law, the one or more data structures, comprising:

• a hierarchical arrangement of headings in at least one table of contents (TOC) and parts of the body of law, each heading identifying one or more parts of the body of law;
• an association of temporal information comprising one or more dates indicating the legal applicability of a respective part of the body of law and the respective part of the body of law;
• an association of a plurality of parts of the body of law that are different versions of each other and have different temporal information associated therewith and at least one heading of a TOC;
• and
• an association of the temporal information relating to each part and version of the body of law and each heading with which the respective part or version is associated.

An information storage and retrieval system, comprising:

• a computer system including a computer display device, a computer input device and a computer-readable medium, the computer system being coupled to access data stored on the computer-readable medium, wherein the medium being encoded with one or more data structures representing an information collection comprising a body of law, the one or more data structures organizing the information collection and facilitating access by the computer system of information from the medium relating to the body of law, the one or more data structures comprising:
• an association of each part of the body of law, including different versions thereof, and at least one topic comprising a hierarchical arrangement of topics of the body of law and parts of the body of law in which each part of the body of law and different version thereof and the associated at least one topic are hierarchically associated;
• and
• an association of temporal information comprising one or more dates indicating the legal applicability of a respective part and the legal applicability of any different version thereof and the respective part of the body of law or respective different version thereof,
• wherein the computer system being programmed to access the medium and cause to be displayed on the computer display device, in response to input from the computer input device, information identifying at least two parts of the body of law that are different versions of each other together with temporal information associated therewith, and in response to input from the computer input device selecting one of the identified parts displayed identity to access the medium and cause the one identified part to be displayed on the display device.

An information storage and retrieval system, comprising:

• a computer system including a computer display device, a computer input device and a computer-readable medium, the computer system being coupled to access data stored on the computer-readable medium;
• the medium being encoded with one or more data structures representing an information collection comprising a body of law, the one or more data structures organizing the information collection and facilitating access by the computer system of information from the medium relating to the body of law, the one or more data structures comprising:
• a hierarchical arrangement of headings in at least one table of contents (TOC) and parts of the body of law, each heading identifying one or more parts of the body of law;
• an association of temporal information comprising one or more dates indicating the legal applicability of a respective part of the body of law and the respective part of the body of law;
• and
• an association of a plurality of parts of the body of law that are different versions of each other and have different temporal information associated therewith and at least one heading of a TOC;
• the computer system being programmed to access the medium and cause to be displayed on the computer display device, in response to input from the computer input device at least one heading, at least one part associated with the at least one heading and temporal information, and the computer system being programmed to cause to be displayed on the computer display device a displayed part selected with the computer input device that has temporal information associated therewith that encompasses the displayed temporal information.

A method of accessing an information collection stored on a computer readable medium using a computer coupled to access the information collection, the medium being encoded with one or more data structures representing an information collection comprising a body of law, the one or more data structures organizing the information collection and facilitating access by the computer system of information from the medium relating to the body of law, the one or more data structures comprising;

• an association of each part of the body of law, including different versions thereof, and at least one topic comprising a hierarchical arrangement of topics of the body of law and parts of the body of law in which each part of the body of law and any different version thereof and the associated at least one topic are hierarchically associated;
• and
• an association of temporal information comprising one or more dates indicating the legal applicability of a respective part and the legal applicability of any different version thereof and the respective part of the body of law or respective different version thereof;
• the method comprising:
• displaying on a computer display device coupled to the computer dates in association with information identifying at least two parts that are different versions of each other;
• and
• displaying on the computer display device that part of the body of law that is selected with a computer input device coupled to the computer.

A method of accessing an information collection stored on a computer readable medium using a computer coupled to access the information collection, the medium being encoded with one or more data structures representing an information collection comprising a body of law, the one or more data structures organizing the information collection and facilitating access by the computer system of information from the medium relating to the body of law, the one or more data structures comprising:

• an association of each part of the body of law, including different versions thereof, and at least one topic comprising a hierarchical arrangement of topics of the body of law and parts of the body of law in which each part of the body of law and any different version thereof and the associated at least one topic are hierarchically associated;
• and
• an association of temporal information comprising one or more dates indicating the legal applicability of a respective part and the legal applicability of any different version thereof and the respective part of the body of law or respective different version thereof;
• the method comprising:
• inputting to the computer using a computer input device information identifying a part of the body of law and a date;
• and
• in response thereto, the computer causing the computer display device to display the identified part which has temporal information encompassing the inputted date.

A method for encoding a computer readable medium with one or more data structures representing an information collection comprising a body of law, the one or more data structures organizing the information collection and facilitating computer access from the computer readable medium of information relating to the body of law, the body of law comprising a plurality of topics and a plurality of parts, including parts that are different versions of each other, the method comprising creating in the one or more data structures:

• an association of each part of the body of law, including different versions thereof, and at least one topic in a hierarchical arrangement of topics of the body of law and parts of the body of law in which each part of the body of law and any different version thereof and the associated at least one topic are hierarchically associated;
• an association of temporal information comprising one or more dates indicating the legal applicability of a respective part and the legal applicability of any different version thereof and the respective part of the body of law or respective different version thereof;
• and
• an association of information relating to each part or version of the body of law and the at least one topic with which the respective part or version is associated.

A method for encoding a computer readable medium with one or more data structures representing an information collection comprising a body of law, the one or more data structures organizing the information collection and facilitating computer access from the computer readable medium of information relating to the body of law, the method comprising creating in the one or more data structures:

• one or more unique information units, each including at least one part of the body of law including any different version of the at least one part, and a plurality of topical units, each comprising at least one topic;
• an association of each topical unit and the at least one information unit, each topical unit including information relating to the at least one information unit associated therewith;
• and
• an association of temporal information comprising one or more dates indicating the legal applicability of each part of the body of law and different version thereof and the respective information unit in which the respective part and any different version thereof are included;
• the method comprising storing the one or more data structures in the computer readable medium.