How a legal reference enters this collection, and how it leaves
Every reference cited in a template was taken from its official address, on the date given beside it. Here is the rule that lets it in, and what happens the day it no longer holds.
The rule of the collection
What lets a legal reference in
This service sometimes cites an article of law: on a template sheet, in a module attached to a country. Every time, the citation obeys one rule, with no exception.
A legal reference that is cited was taken from its official public source at the time of writing, with the date it was read. A template whose legal grounds cannot be checked does not go out.
Why most templates cite no law
Most templates in this collection cite no text at all: they describe a move that holds in most countries, in terms of roles rather than articles of law. Only the modules attached to a country cite a reference, because they are the only ones that need to. It is for those modules, and only for those, that this page matters.
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How it works
What has to be gathered before writing a citation
Writing a reference starts with opening the text at its official address, on that day: the site of an official legal publication service, of an administration that applies the text, or of the authority that enforces it. From it you take the exact article number, the text as it is written, and that day's date.
The text, the address and the date together make up what this project calls a legal ground. A template sheet citing a law shows its ground beside the citation: the reader can follow the link and read the article in the same place as whoever copied it out.
The file describing a template cannot do without it: with no address and no date, the citation cannot be built, and the template stays on the workbench.
Why the date counts as much as the reference
An article of law is not fixed. It can be amended, renumbered or repealed, sometimes several times in the same year. Citing an article number without saying when you read it is like citing a book without giving the edition: the reader does not know which version the letter they are about to send is talking about.
The date it was read answers that question. It says: this is what this article said, at this address, on this day. If the text has changed since, the date lets you see it at once by comparing it with the current version, rather than finding out after sending a letter that cites an article that no longer exists in that form.
Never a second-hand source
A reference is never copied from another site, an article, a summary or an answer produced by a tool, even when the citation looks accurate. The only thing that counts is the address where the text is published by the body that enacts it or applies it.
The reason is simple: a second-hand source may already have changed without the copy knowing, and above all it cannot be checked in the same way. The principle of this page is to give you the means to check, not to ask you to believe a claim. A second-hand source breaks that principle, even when it is correct.
The collection, counted on disk
What this figure counts exactly
16 counts only the legal grounds carrying both their source address and the date they were read: it is the same condition that decides whether a reference goes out or stays on the workbench.
16
legal references checked against their public source, with their date
1
countries whose law is already covered by a checked module
When a source moves
When an address no longer leads to the text it cited
An address can change: a site is rebuilt, an article renumbered, a text replaced by another. This service does not monitor the addresses it cites continuously: it has neither a server nor a task running for it. Checking resumes when a new template is written, when an existing template is read again, or because somebody reported that something no longer matched.
When an address no longer leads to the text it cited, there are three outcomes, never a fourth. The article still exists, at another address: the reference is corrected, with its new date. The article has changed content: the citation is redone against the current text, or withdrawn if it no longer applies. The text has gone with nothing to replace it: the template that rested on it is withdrawn rather than left citing a law that no longer exists. A reference that can no longer be checked is never left on display as it stands.
| Reference cited | Template it serves | Read on |
|---|---|---|
| Règlement (UE) 2016/679, article 15, paragraphe 1 | France: asking for access to your personal data | |
| Règlement (UE) 2016/679, article 12, paragraphe 3 | France: asking for access to your personal data | |
| Règlement (UE) 2016/679, article 77, paragraphe 1 | France: asking for access to your personal data | |
| Loi n° 78-17 du 6 janvier 1978 relative à l’informatique, aux fichiers et aux libertés | France: asking for access to your personal data | |
| Code des relations entre le public et l’administration, article L. 311-1 | France: asking for an administrative document | |
| Code des relations entre le public et l’administration, article R. 311-12 | France: asking for an administrative document | |
| Code des relations entre le public et l’administration, article R. 311-13 | France: asking for an administrative document | |
| Code des relations entre le public et l’administration, article R. 343-1 | France: asking for an administrative document | |
| Code de la consommation, article L. 217-3 | France: enforcing the legal guarantee of conformity | |
| Code de la consommation, article L. 217-7 | France: enforcing the legal guarantee of conformity | |
| Code de la consommation, article L. 217-9 | France: enforcing the legal guarantee of conformity | |
| Code de la consommation, article L. 217-10 | France: enforcing the legal guarantee of conformity | |
| Code de la consommation, article L. 217-11 | France: enforcing the legal guarantee of conformity | |
| Code de la consommation, article L. 215-1 | France: cancelling a contract that renewed automatically | |
| Code de la consommation, article L. 215-1-1 | France: cancelling a contract that renewed automatically | |
| Code de la consommation, article L. 215-5 | France: cancelling a contract that renewed automatically |