code / legex /scrapers /uk.py
anonymous
[code] Initial release of the code.
6f5156a
from __future__ import annotations
import logging
import re
import threading
import time
import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET
from concurrent.futures import ThreadPoolExecutor, as_completed
from datetime import date
import requests
from dateutil import parser as dateutil_parser
from legex.models.base import Case
from legex.scrapers.base import BaseScraper
log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
# Find Case Law (caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk): UKSC + Court of Appeal Civil
# Division. BAILII is gated behind an Anubis proof-of-work and supremecourt.uk
# only covers post-2020; National Archives is the clean upstream. Bulk
# computational analysis requires a separate licence (held for legex).
BASE_URL = "https://caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk"
ATOM_URL = f"{BASE_URL}/atom.xml"
COURTS = ["uksc", "ewca/civ"]
PAGE_SIZE = 50
DELAY_SECONDS = 3
RETRY_DELAY_SECONDS = 30
XML_WORKERS = 8
# 1000 requests / 5 min rolling window per IP. Cap to ~2.85 req/sec globally.
_MIN_INTERVAL = 0.35
_RATE_LOCK = threading.Lock()
_LAST_REQ_AT = [0.0]
ATOM_NS = {
"atom": "http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom",
"tna": "https://caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk",
}
AKN = "{http://docs.oasis-open.org/legaldocml/ns/akn/3.0}"
# Non-civil title patterns. Find Case Law truncates the bracketed applicant in
# UKSC judicial review ("R (on the application of X) v ..." → "R v ...") so it
# is indistinguishable from criminal "R v <defendant>" by surface form. EWCA
# Civil instead inverts the form ("<applicant>, R (on the application of) v
# ..."). Both criminal and administrative are out of scope, so we drop:
# - any "R v ..." or "R (..." opening
# - any "..., R (on the application of) ..." (EWCA Civil's inverted JR)
# - DPP / Attorney General's Reference / HM Advocate / Procurator Fiscal.
_NOT_CIVIL_RE = re.compile(
r"^R\s+(?:v\b|\()"
r"|\bR\s*\(on the application of\b"
r"|^(?:Director of Public Prosecutions|DPP)\s+v\b"
r"|^Attorney General(?:['’]s)?\s+Reference\b"
r"|\b(?:Her Majesty(?:['’]s)?\s+Advocate|HM\s+Advocate|Procurator Fiscal)\b",
re.IGNORECASE,
)
def _throttle() -> None:
with _RATE_LOCK:
wait = _MIN_INTERVAL - (time.monotonic() - _LAST_REQ_AT[0])
if wait > 0:
time.sleep(wait)
_LAST_REQ_AT[0] = time.monotonic()
def _parse_date(raw: str | None) -> date | None:
if not raw:
return None
try:
return date.fromisoformat(raw[:10])
except ValueError:
pass
try:
return dateutil_parser.parse(raw, dayfirst=True).date()
except (ValueError, OverflowError, dateutil_parser.ParserError):
return None
def _fetch(session: requests.Session, url: str, params: dict | None = None) -> bytes | None:
_throttle()
try:
resp = session.get(url, params=params, timeout=30)
if resp.status_code == 429:
log.warning("HTTP 429 on %s — sleeping %ds then retrying", url, RETRY_DELAY_SECONDS)
time.sleep(RETRY_DELAY_SECONDS)
_throttle()
resp = session.get(url, params=params, timeout=30)
if not resp.ok:
log.warning("HTTP %d for %s", resp.status_code, url)
return None
return resp.content
except requests.RequestException as exc:
log.warning("Error fetching %s: %s", url, exc)
return None
def _extract_full_text(xml_bytes: bytes) -> str | None:
try:
root = ET.fromstring(xml_bytes)
except ET.ParseError:
return None
body = root.find(f".//{AKN}judgmentBody")
if body is None:
return None
parts: list[str] = []
for el in body.iter():
for t in (el.text, el.tail):
if t and (s := t.strip()):
parts.append(s)
return "\n".join(parts) if parts else None
def _entry_to_case(entry: ET.Element, court: str) -> Case | None:
title_el = entry.find("atom:title", ATOM_NS)
title = (title_el.text if title_el is not None else "") or ""
published_el = entry.find("atom:published", ATOM_NS)
decision_date = _parse_date(published_el.text if published_el is not None else None)
link_html = link_xml = link_pdf = None
for link in entry.findall("atom:link", ATOM_NS):
rel = link.attrib.get("rel")
ltype = link.attrib.get("type")
href = link.attrib.get("href")
if not href:
continue
if rel == "alternate" and ltype is None and href.startswith(BASE_URL):
link_html = href
elif ltype == "application/akn+xml":
link_xml = href
elif ltype == "application/pdf":
link_pdf = href
if not link_html:
return None
cite_el = entry.find("tna:identifier[@type='ukncn']", ATOM_NS)
citation = cite_el.text if cite_el is not None else None
slug = cite_el.attrib.get("slug") if cite_el is not None else None
return Case(
case_id=citation,
link=link_html,
decision_date=decision_date,
jurisdiction="uk",
language="en",
full_text=None,
metadata={
"title": title,
"slug": slug,
"court": court,
"xml_url": link_xml,
"pdf_url": link_pdf,
},
)
class UKScraper(BaseScraper):
country = "United Kingdom"
def scrape(
self,
start_date: date | None = None,
end_date: date | None = None,
) -> list[Case]:
session = requests.Session()
session.headers.update({"Accept": "application/atom+xml, application/xml, */*"})
cases: list[Case] = []
seen: set[str] = set()
for court in COURTS:
cases.extend(self._scrape_court(session, court, seen, start_date, end_date))
todo = [c for c in cases if (c.metadata or {}).get("xml_url")]
if todo:
log.info("Fetching full_text for %d Akoma Ntoso XML files", len(todo))
done = failed = 0
with ThreadPoolExecutor(max_workers=XML_WORKERS) as pool:
futures = {
pool.submit(_fetch, session, c.metadata["xml_url"]): c for c in todo
}
for fut in as_completed(futures):
case = futures[fut]
xml_bytes = fut.result()
text = _extract_full_text(xml_bytes) if xml_bytes else None
if text:
case.full_text = text
done += 1
else:
failed += 1
if (done + failed) % 100 == 0:
log.info(
"XML progress %d/%d (failed=%d)",
done + failed, len(todo), failed,
)
log.info("Hydrated %d XML files (failed=%d)", done, failed)
return cases
@staticmethod
def _scrape_court(
session: requests.Session,
court: str,
seen: set[str],
start_date: date | None,
end_date: date | None,
) -> list[Case]:
out: list[Case] = []
page = 1
while True:
log.info("[%s] atom page %d", court, page)
data = _fetch(session, ATOM_URL, params={"court": court, "page": page})
if not data:
break
try:
root = ET.fromstring(data)
except ET.ParseError as exc:
log.warning("[%s] parse error on page %d: %s", court, page, exc)
break
entries = root.findall("atom:entry", ATOM_NS)
if not entries:
log.info("[%s] no entries on page %d — stopping", court, page)
break
all_before_start = True
for entry in entries:
case = _entry_to_case(entry, court)
if case is None or not case.link or case.link in seen:
continue
d = case.decision_date
if end_date and d and d > end_date:
# Too new — feed is sorted desc, so older (in-window) pages are still ahead.
all_before_start = False
continue
if start_date and d and d >= start_date:
all_before_start = False
if start_date and d and d < start_date:
continue
seen.add(case.link)
out.append(case)
if start_date and all_before_start:
log.info("[%s] all on page %d predate start_date — stopping early", court, page)
break
if len(entries) < PAGE_SIZE:
log.info("[%s] last page at %d (%d items)", court, page, len(entries))
break
time.sleep(DELAY_SECONDS)
page += 1
log.info("[%s] collected %d cases", court, len(out))
return out
@staticmethod
def civil_filter(cases: list[Case]) -> list[Case]:
return [
c for c in cases
if not _NOT_CIVIL_RE.search(((c.metadata or {}).get("title") or "").strip())
]