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Research catalogue for scaling `legex` to new jurisdictions. Each row is a
candidate country/court, what data source we'd use, how to isolate civil-law
cases, and how hard the scraper looks. Two jurisdictions are already
implemented; the others are prioritised into waves.
Source links and contact names come from GitHub issue
[#3](https://github.com/Engineers-for-Science-Initiative/legex/issues/3) and
Daniel's compilation table. Link checks and source research were performed
via WebFetch/WebSearch; HuggingFace datasets were preferred where available.
## Status
| # | Country | Court | Source type | Civil filter | Dates | Recommendation |
| ---- | ------------------ | ---------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------- | --------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| done | Switzerland | Bundesgericht | HF `voilaj/swiss-caselaw` | chamber prefix 4* / 5* | 2015–2025 | Done |
| done | France | Cour de cassation | PISTE Judilibre API | chambers civ1/civ2/civ3 | 2015–2025 | Done |
| done | Australia | High Court | HF `isaacus/high-court-of-australia-cases` | exclude "v The King/Queen" | 2015–2025 | Done (link via hcourt.gov.au per-case page, docket extracted from text) |
| done | Germany | BGH | HF `openlegaldata/court-decisions-germany` (gated) | case-ID `<Roman> ZR/ZB/ZA` | 2015–2018 | Done (coverage tails off post-2018; gated T&C + HF_TOKEN) |
| done | United States | SCOTUS | HF `free-law/Caselaw_Access_Project` (gated) | exclude "United States v." + state-v heuristic | 2015–2020 | Done (CAP dataset ends 2020; gated T&C + HF_TOKEN) |
| done | United Kingdom | Supreme Court | BAILII / supremecourt.uk<br />used https://nationalarchives.github.io/ds-find-caselaw-docs/public | all UKSC = civil/mixed | 2009–2025 | Blocked on BAILII (Anubis proof-of-work); supremecourt.uk feasible with paginated scrape |
| done | Belgium | Cour de Cassation | juportal.be HTML | `C*` (civil) vs `P*` case-ID prefix | 2015–2025 | Done (form POST + server-side pagination on juportal content pages) |
| 3 | Austria | OGH | RIS (ris.bka.gv.at) JSON API | `Rechtsgebiete == Zivilrecht` | 2000–2025 | Wave 1 (API exists, but param schema needs more research) |
| 4 | Armenia | Cassation Court | cassationcourt.am HTML | dedicated `/precedent/civil-cases-advanced-search` | 2015–2025 | Wave 2 (CSRF-token form session handling required) |
| Done | New Zealand | High Court + Court of Appeal | justice.govt.nz JDO HTML | "Civil" dropdown | 2015–2025 | Wave 2 |
| 6 | Hong Kong | CFA + High Court | legalref.judiciary.hk HTML | court-level + case-type dropdowns | 1997–2025 | Wave 2 |
| 7 | Singapore | Supreme Court + SICC | judiciary.gov.sg HTML | civil vs criminal case summaries | 2000–2025 | Wave 2 |
| 8 | Korea | Supreme Court | eng.scourt.go.kr HTML | case designation `Da` (civil) | 2015–2025 | Wave 3 — Hangul |
| 9 | India | Supreme Court | sci.gov.in HTML + PDF | free-text "civil appeal" search | 2013–2025 | Wave 3 — PDF heavy |
| 10 | Philippines | Supreme Court | elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph HTML | monthly decision index | 1996–2025 | Wave 3 |
| 11 | Brazil | STJ | scon.stj.jus.br HTML | "Pesquisa Pronta" civil themes | 2015–2025 | Wave 3 — verify scope |
| 12 | Dominican Republic | Suprema Corte | poderjudicial.gob.do HTML | First Chamber (Civil + Commercial) | 2015–2025 | Wave 3 |
| 13 | Georgia | Supreme Court | supremecourt.ge HTML + AJAX | chamber = "Civil" | 2015–2025 | Wave 3 — needs Playwright |
| 14 | Kazakhstan | Supreme Court | sud.gov.kz HTML | Bank of Judicial Acts by case type | 2009–2024 | Wave 3 |
| 15 | Ukraine | Supreme Court | reyestr.court.gov.ua HTML | case form "Цивільні справи" | 2015–2025 | Wave 3 — bot protection |
| 16 | Taiwan | Judicial Yuan | judgment.judicial.gov.tw ASPX | `民事` case-type + ROC calendar | 2020–2025 | Wave 4 — ASPX + ROC calendar |
| 17 | Nepal | Supreme Court | nkp.gov.np HTML | advanced-search case type | ~2015–2025 | Wave 4 — Bikram Sambat calendar, Nepali Unicode |
| 18 | Italy | Corte di Cassazione | italgiure.giustizia.it | sezione civile (I–VI) | 1923–2025 | Blocked — subscription required |
| 19 | Spain | Tribunal Supremo | poderjudicial.es | Sala de lo Civil | 2000–2025 | Blocked — CGPJ bulk-use restriction, only 147 SC civil cases/yr |
| 20 | China | Supreme People's Court | wenshu.court.gov.cn | case-type filter | 2015–2025 | Blocked — anti-bot + phone registration; check NYU Shanghai mirror |
| 21 | Belarus | Supreme Court | court.gov.by | — | pre-2014 Plenums only | Blocked — no public decision database |
Legend: Wave 1 = high confidence, should implement first. Wave 2 = moderate effort. Wave 3 = special challenges (encoding, bot protection, AJAX). Wave 4 = calendar/script conversion required. Blocked = needs a policy change, alternative source, or is not feasible.
## Per-country detail
Short notes per country with sample URL, rate/auth notes, and the scraper sketch. Implementation tickets will expand these.
### Wave 1 — implement next
- United Kingdom — Supreme Court (BAILII)
- Link: https://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKSC/
- Sample: https://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKSC/2024/24.html
- Civil filter: all UKSC decisions are civil/mixed; filter by year and case topic.
- Auth: none; free, no cookies, no anti-bot.
- Scraper: scrape `bailii.org/uk/cases/UKSC/<year>/` index pages; follow per-case HTML or PDF. ~100–150 civil cases/year 2015–2025. Stable structure.
- Australia — High Court
- Link: https://www.hcourt.gov.au/cases-and-judgments/judgments
- HF dataset: `isaacus/high-court-of-australia-cases` (also `isaacus/open-australian-legal-corpus`).
- Civil filter: case-type classification; HCA mixes civil and constitutional.
- Scraper: reuse the HF parquet path, same pattern as CH. Trivial.
- Austria — Oberster Gerichtshof (RIS)
- Link: https://www.ris.bka.gv.at
- Sample: https://www.ris.bka.gv.at/Dokumente/Justiz/JJT_20241024_OGH0002_0010OB00161_24V0000_000/
- Civil filter: senate codes like `Ob` for civil revision.
- Auth: none; German only.
- Scraper: query RIS by date+senate, paginate by case number.
### Wave 2 — moderate effort
- Germany — Bundesgerichtshof Zivilsenate
- Link: https://juris.bundesgerichtshof.de
- Civil filter: case prefix `ZR` (Zivilrecht) across senates I–XII.
- Auth: none (scraping BGH is legal per 2024 precedent).
- Scraper: parse `cgi-bin/rechtsprechung/document.py`; ~300 decisions/year civil.
- Armenia — Court of Cassation
- Link: https://www.cassationcourt.am/en/precedent/civil-cases-advanced-search
- Civil filter: already has a dedicated civil-cases advanced-search form.
- Auth: none. Armenian / English / Russian UI.
- Scraper: POST the advanced-search form, parse results table.
- United States — SCOTUS (via CourtListener)
- Official portal: https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/USReports.aspx (mixed civil/criminal, no filter).
- Preferred: CourtListener API (courtlistener.com/api) or HF "Pile of Law".
- Civil filter: apply post-hoc via case-type classification (SCOTUS cases are mostly certiorari; filter by case topic).
- Auth: CourtListener has free API keys with rate limits.
- Scraper: CourtListener API `/api/rest/v3/opinions/?court=scotus`.
- New Zealand — High Court + Court of Appeal
- Link: https://www.justice.govt.nz/courts/decisions/jdo/
- Civil filter: "Civil" dropdown in JDO search.
- Auth: none. 3-day publication lag.
- Scraper: JDO search form, paginate, follow per-case HTML.
- Hong Kong — Court of Final Appeal + High Court
- Link: https://legalref.judiciary.hk/lrs/common/ju/judgment.jsp
- Civil filter: court level + case type dropdowns (civil/criminal).
- Scraper: GET-based search form, fairly mechanical.
- Singapore — Supreme Court + SICC
- Link: https://www.judiciary.gov.sg/judgments/judgments-case-summaries
- Civil filter: case summaries classified as civil vs criminal; SICC (commercial, 2015+) is a separate civil-only feed.
- Scraper: two feeds — general Supreme Court + SICC.
### Wave 3 — special challenges
- Korea: scourt.go.kr, case designation `Da` = civil appellate. Hangul full-text.
- India: sci.gov.in, PDF-heavy; free-text "civil appeal" search. Multiple scripts possible.
- Philippines: elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph, chronological monthly index, DataTables pagination.
- Brazil: scon.stj.jus.br — "Pesquisa Pronta" is curated themes; verify whether the themed set is representative of civil cases or only a subset.
- Dominican Republic: poderjudicial.gob.do — First Chamber (Civil + Commercial). Spanish.
- Georgia: supremecourt.ge — AJAX modals; needs Playwright/Selenium rather than requests.
- Kazakhstan: sud.gov.kz — Bank of Judicial Acts, filter by case type. Kazakh/Russian/English.
- Ukraine: reyestr.court.gov.ua — case form "Цивільні справи". Anti-bot protection, "test mode" warnings; rate-limit gently.
### Wave 4 — calendar / script conversion required
- Taiwan: judgment.judicial.gov.tw is an ASP.NET form (stateful POST + cookies). Case-type filter `民事` (civil). Year input is ROC calendar (民國 N = Gregorian N+1911). Example: ROC 113 = 2024.
- Nepal: nkp.gov.np uses Bikram Sambat calendar (~57 years ahead; 2015 AD ≈ 2072 BS). Nepali-Unicode-only search form. Calendar conversion helper required.
### Blocked / investigate later
- Italy — italgiure.giustizia.it is subscription-gated. Investigate whether the research group can obtain institutional access or negotiate bulk-export terms. No public bulk download.
- Spain — poderjudicial.es CENDOJ prohibits bulk use (>100/day = ToS breach). Only ~147 Supreme Court civil cases since 2017 meet the Sala de lo Civil filter — insufficient for a 130-sample Goldenset unless we find alternative CENDOJ OpenData access.
- China — wenshu.court.gov.cn requires Chinese mobile-phone registration and has aggressive anti-bot. Consider the NYU Shanghai Library snapshot or the CAIL2018 civil-cases dataset before attempting live scraping.
- Belarus — court.gov.by only publishes Plenum explanations (non-binding jurisprudence) in the official gazette "Sudovy vestnik". No structured civil-decision database.
## Key observations
1. Seven jurisdictions are HuggingFace-ready or have usable public APIs (CH, FR already done; AU via `isaacus/high-court-of-australia-cases`; UK via BAILII; US via CourtListener). These are cheapest to implement and should be the next tickets.
2. Most mid-tier countries are HTML scrapes with a dedicated civil filter at source (Austria, Germany, Belgium, Armenia, NZ, HK, Singapore, Dominican Republic). Each is ~1–2 days of scraper work.
3. Four countries are effectively blocked without a policy change or alternative source (Italy, Spain, China, Belarus). Flag these to Adrian / Nerea / Jelle / contacts for guidance rather than burning engineering time.
4. Non-Gregorian calendars and non-Latin scripts affect Taiwan (ROC), Nepal (Bikram Sambat), and the CJK countries. These need conversion utilities before scraping; consider a shared `legex/utils/calendar.py` when the first non-Gregorian jurisdiction ships.
5. Prioritise "civil filter at source" over post-hoc filtering. Countries where the court already exposes a civil-only search (Armenia, Belgium C-prefix, Austria N Ob, Germany ZR) produce high-precision Goldensets with minimal noise.
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