Digitization of the Sources of Law

In this essay I use Danish law, EU law and ECHR law as examples of legal systems where sources of law are digitized to a great extent. I give a brief description of the main rules that provide for the digitization of the sources of law. In Denmark, no one owns copyright to public sources of law. Section 9 of the Copyright Act (Ophavsretsloven) provides:laws, administrative regulations and judgments are not subject to copyright.
Contracts including collective agreements are owned by the parties. Authors of literary products have copyright also when the texts are regarded as sources of law. In this essay, I describe and discuss the changed conditions for publishing legal journals in Denmark with both judicial decisions (to which there is no copyright) and literary articles (to which there is copyright). I use Arbejdsretligt Tidsskrift (Labour Law Journal) and Ugeskrift for Retsvæsen as examples. Since 2014, Arbejdsretligt Tidsskrift no longer exists. Ugeskrift for Retsvæsen still exists but its publication conditions in the coming years are uncertain due to the ongoing establishment of a public digital judicial database which will be available free of charge for the users.
The essay ends with a discussion of the methodological consequences of digitization of sources of law, in particular the question as to whether it leads to changes in the traditional legal dogmatic method.