Electronic court filing (ECF), or e-filing, is the automated transmission of
legal document
Legal instrument is a law, legal term of art that is used for any formally executed written document that can be formally attributed to its author, records and formally expresses a legally enforceable act, process, or contractual duty, obligation ...
s from an attorney, party, or self-represented litigant to a court, from a court to an attorney, and from an attorney or other user to another attorney or other user of legal documents.
[http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/legalxml-courtfiling/charter.php LegalXML Electronic Court Filing Technical Committee Charter]
Technical standards
The
LegalXML Electronic Court Filing Technical Committee, a subcommittee of
OASIS
In ecology, an oasis (; ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment'ksar''with its surrounding feeding source, the palm grove, within a relational and circulatory nomadic system.”
The location of oases has been of critical imp ...
, with members representing both public and private sector organizations, has developed technical specifications that provide for standardization of the following for electronic filing of court documents:
* Message Structures
*
Metadata
Metadata is "data that provides information about other data", but not the content of the data, such as the text of a message or the image itself. There are many distinct types of metadata, including:
* Descriptive metadata – the descriptive ...
These
XML
Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a markup language and file format for storing, transmitting, and reconstructing arbitrary data. It defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable ...
-based standards support the implementation of electronic court filing but they do not define court policies. In 2003, the
National Center for State Courts
The National Center for State Courts (NCSC) is an independent, non-profit organization focused on improving the administration of justice in the United States and around the world. Its efforts are directed by a 27-member board of directors and thr ...
(NCSC) publishe
Standards for Electronic Filing Processes (Technical and Business Approaches)
In the summer of 2009, the NCSC commenced a survey of the usage of e-filing in state courts across the country, including U.S. Territories. The survey responses were published in th
2009 NCSC Court E-filing Survey
Release history
* LegalXML:
* ECF 1.0: March 22, 2000
* ECF 1.1: July 7, 2002
* ECF 3.0: November 11, 2005
** ECF 3.01: April 25, 2006
* ECF 3.1: December 4, 2007
* ECF 4.0: October 8, 2008
LegalXML
* Collaboration on nonproprietary standards for the legal community
* Merged with OASIS in March 2002.
ECF 1.0
ECF 1.1
This version was approved by the NCSC Joint Technology Committee as a recommended standard in 2002.
ECF 2.0
This version number was skipped in order to create a linkage between
GJXDM
The Global Justice XML Data Model (GJXDM or Global JXDM) is a data reference model for the exchange of information within the justice and public safety communities. The Global JXDM is a product of the Global Justice Information Sharing Initiative' ...
3.0.
ECF 3.0
* Leverage new and emerging standards
** Volcabularies
*** GJXDM
*** UBL
** Web services
*** W3C
*** OASIS
*** WS-I
* Use of
XML schemas rather than
DTD
* Supports ''Standards for Electronic Filing Processes (Technical and Business Approaches)'' approved in 2003.
ECF 4.0
* Conforms with
NIEM
NIEM ( ) originated as an XML-based information exchange framework from the United States. NIEM also supports NIEM JSON exchanges. NIEM is currently developinthe NIEM Metamodel and Common Model Formatwhich can be expressed in any data serializati ...
Implementation assistance
In an effort to promote implementation of the ECF 4.0 specification, the OASIS LegalXML ECF committee developed a "quick start guide", the ''7 Steps to Electronic Filing with Electronic Court Filing 4.0''. The guide provides information on the following topics:
* Standardize integration methods in an e-filing implementation with XML
* Integrate with any potential e-filing service provider or share e-filing data between systems or partners
* Set up a single method of processing data related to e-filing
* Find out how to implement legal service in an e-filing application
Th
LegalXML Electronic Court Filing Technical Committeeserves as the primary source of documentation and support.
See also
*
OASIS
In ecology, an oasis (; ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment'ksar''with its surrounding feeding source, the palm grove, within a relational and circulatory nomadic system.”
The location of oases has been of critical imp ...
*
LegalXML
*
GJXDM
The Global Justice XML Data Model (GJXDM or Global JXDM) is a data reference model for the exchange of information within the justice and public safety communities. The Global JXDM is a product of the Global Justice Information Sharing Initiative' ...
, the Global Justice XML Data Model
*
National Information Exchange Model
NIEM ( ) originated as an XML-based information exchange framework from the United States. NIEM also supports NIEM JSON exchanges. NIEM is currently developinthe NIEM Metamodel and Common Model Formatwhich can be expressed in any data serializatio ...
(NIEM)
*
Electronic Filing System
The Electronic Filing System (or EFS) is the Singapore Judiciary's electronic platform for filing and service of documents within the litigation process. In addition, it provides the registries of the Supreme Court and the Subordinate Courts wit ...
(Singapore)
*
National Center for State Courts
The National Center for State Courts (NCSC) is an independent, non-profit organization focused on improving the administration of justice in the United States and around the world. Its efforts are directed by a 27-member board of directors and thr ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Electronic Court Filing
Legal documents