WHY BUSINESS NEEDS ONLINE LAW IN AFRICA

This story may come as a surprise, but in many African countries, local laws are not readily accessible.

A history of conflict has left large gaps in the published law of many African nations. For many years the only collection of Liberian legal cases and published legislation was held at the University of Cornell Law Library in the United States. Now, the rule of law usually rests on precedents, and these precedents are often unavailable in their original form. African lawyers, both government and private, as well as judges, academics and other researchers often do not have any (even commercial) access to records of the law. This has serious implications for the legal sector, and it has big implications for business too.

In 2015, an international development partner who wanted to harness Rwanda`s immense investment opportunities realised that lack of clarity and consistency in legislation regulating business, employments, contracts and property created substantial operational difficulties for businesses. This predicament is not unique to Rwanda. In developing economies, lack of clarity and consistence in law and policy impedes the growth of small businesses. This is particularly serious given that small businesses play a vital role in stimulating entrepreneurship, employment, technological innovation and human capital development. These difficulties (the aforementioned partner noted) called for legal interventions to create an investment climate that stimulates economic growth and sustainable development.

The World Bank Group weighed in on the importance of access to legal information in its Doing Business 2016 flagship report. The report shows that countries where courts effectively enforce contractual obligation have better credit markets and rank higher in overall development of small firms and attracts foreign investments. Tax revenues are also secure. An important factor in creating such environments has to do with the transparence of the judicial system. According to the report, when countries make commercial dispute judgments publicly available, citizens are encouraged to rely on existing case law and judges are able to develop the law consistently. This strengthens the predictability and transparence of the legal system, incentivising businesses to invest because the scope of their rights and duties has been clarified.

When it comes to fostering legal transparence, the internet has played an increasingly important role in providing free access to the law. The continent`s most important player in this space is the African Legal Information Institute (African LII), an umbrella project based at the University of Cape Town, which works with national partners across the continent to offer free, open, up-to-date and comprehensive access to judgments and legislation from multiple African countries. The institute believes that access to law is a basic pre-condition for transparency into the legal systems of African countries, and for the rule of law to be meaningful.

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