Access to Legal Information Books and eBooks on the Human Right of Access to Law

Review of the Literature on the Human Right of Access to Law

Copyright © 2021 By Dr. Leesi Ebenezer Mitee, PhD in International Human Rights Law, Legal Information Technology (Legal Informatics), Indigenous Customary Law and Indigenous Rights

The main theme of this research borders on the denial of the existing right of free access to public legal information, which manifests in inadequate and, in some cases, extremely poor public access globally. The issue of the status of that right and its effectuality are therefore crucial aspects of the inquiry. Therefore, a review of the specific literature on its status as a human right, which is the main thrust of this thesis (as expressed in the title of the thesis, the aim of the study, the central research question, and research sub-question 1) is what is relevant here. Its status as a legal right is already well-established under the rule of law and in existing literature.

This review examines the existing literature chronologically (beginning with the earliest known works) instead of thematically. As the existing works are few, they are first presented to show the exact scope of the discussion of the right each of them, after which they are all critically reviewed together to reveal the gaps in them. A chronological literature review[1] has the advantage of easily revealing any progressive or historical development of the subject.

[1] For a chronological literature review, see, for example, Kimberley D Edwards, ‘Prospect Theory: A Literature Review’ (1996) 5(1) International Review of Financial Analysis 19–38 <https://doi.org/10.1016/S1057-5219(96)90004-6> accessed 15 April 2019; Shaynah Neshama Bannister and others, ‘Clients’ Expectations and Preferences for Marital Christian Counseling: A Chronological Literature Review and a Contemporary Evaluation’ (2015) 42(1) Social Work & Christianity 63–91 <www.nacsw.org/RC/49993957.pdf> accessed 16 April 2019; Soniya Lalwani and others, ‘A Survey on Parallel Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithms’ (2019) 44(4) Arabian Journal for Science and Engineering 2899–2923 <https://doi.org/10.1007/s13369-018-03713-6> accessed 16 April 2019.