In the case of Mrs Betty Darego v. A.G. Leventis (Nigeria) Ltd
& 3 Ors, LER[2015] CA/L/481/2011, the Court of Appeal PER
Y.B. NIMPAR, J.C.A held on the meaning of the word “PREPONDERATE”
thus:
“Preponderate according
to www.dictionary.com is a verb and its, original
meaning is “to weigh more than” and its source is the latin word
‘praeponderare’ meaning “out weight”, “to exceed in force or
power”. Preponderance would therefore mean greater weight, a sense
of greater importance.”
Comments
In the above quote, it can be seen
that the court used a dictionary available on the web: dictionary.com, to define the word “preponderate.” It
is good to note that our Lordships are utilizing the Internet to
research and cite same as sources of information in their
judgments. This is a welcome development and it’s hereby suggested
that such practice should be emulated and maintained.
Before now many a lawyer thought that
judges, especially justices of the Court of Appeal and
Supreme Court were old men and women who were Luddites (one who is
opposed to especially technological change) or technophobes (a
person who fears, dislikes, or avoids new technology) but it
appears the justices are now taking steps to change that perception
and that is commendable.
This is hoping that lawyers too will
take up the cue by His Lordship Nimpar J.C.A by carrying out
research using the web and also citing web references or hyperlinks
in their written briefs. I read some briefs filed by lawyers in the
US and judgments from there as well and I see hyperlinks cited in
support of arguments and submissions.
Difficulties
Citing web references in legal
documents has its down side because of link rot. Link rot is
created when a Web page is moved, taken down or reorganized.
Clicking on a rotten link usually results in a 404 error, which
includes a message that the page cannot be found. According to Tom
Venetis:
“Link rot commonly refers to a
situation in which a hyperlink that links to a document or an
online site no longer leads to the site or content. Another related
problem is reference rot where the hyperlink continues to work, but
the content of the site the link refers to has changed, but does
not tell a person where that site or document is now located. The
problem in the same in both cases. Information that one is looking
for is now not easily found, or cannot be found at all.”
A study titled “Something Rotten in
the State of Legal Citation: The Life Span of a United States
Supreme Court Citation Containing an Internet Link (1996-2010)”,
published in the Yale Journal of Law and Technology in 2013, found
that nearly one-third of the websites cited by the U.S. Supreme
Court were non-functioning, many of which linked to government or
education domains.
Solutions
In the US, Michigan’s Supreme Court
archives all its cited links through Perma.cc, a crowd sourced link
preservation site launched by the Harvard Library Innovation Lab.
While anyone can put links on the Perma.cc server, they have to be
renewed every two years in order to not expire. But links posted by
universities, courts and journal editors stay permanently in the
database.
There is also Webcite (http://www.webcitation.org/) which according to
Wikipedia is:
“an on-demand archiving service,
designed to digitally preserve scientific and educationally
important material on the web by making snapshots of Internet
contents as they existed at the time when a blogger, or a scholar
or a Wikipedia editor cited or quoted from it. The preservation
service enables verifiability of claims supported by the cited
sources even when the original web pages are being revised,
removed, or disappear for other reasons, an effect known as link
rot.”
WebCite is a non-profit consortium
supported by publishers and editors, and it can be used by
individuals without charge.
In the case of Mrs Betty Darego v. A.G. Leventis (Nigeria) Ltd
& 3 Ors, LER[2015] CA/L/481/2011, the Court of Appeal PER
Y.B. NIMPAR, J.C.A held on the meaning of the word “PREPONDERATE”
thus:
“Preponderate according
to www.dictionary.com is a verb and its, original
meaning is “to weigh more than” and its source is the latin word
‘praeponderare’ meaning “out weight”, “to exceed in force or
power”. Preponderance would therefore mean greater weight, a sense
of greater importance.”
Comments
In the above quote, it can be seen
that the court used a dictionary available on the web: dictionary.com, to define the word “preponderate.” It
is good to note that our Lordships are utilizing the Internet to
research and cite same as sources of information in their
judgments. This is a welcome development and it’s hereby suggested
that such practice should be emulated and maintained.
Before now many a lawyer thought that
judges, especially justices of the Court of Appeal and
Supreme Court were old men and women who were Luddites (one who is
opposed to especially technological change) or technophobes (a
person who fears, dislikes, or avoids new technology) but it
appears the justices are now taking steps to change that perception
and that is commendable.
This is hoping that lawyers too will
take up the cue by His Lordship Nimpar J.C.A by carrying out
research using the web and also citing web references or hyperlinks
in their written briefs. I read some briefs filed by lawyers in the
US and judgments from there as well and I see hyperlinks cited in
support of arguments and submissions.
Difficulties
Citing web references in legal
documents has its down side because of link rot. Link rot is
created when a Web page is moved, taken down or reorganized.
Clicking on a rotten link usually results in a 404 error, which
includes a message that the page cannot be found. According to Tom
Venetis:
“Link rot commonly refers to a
situation in which a hyperlink that links to a document or an
online site no longer leads to the site or content. Another related
problem is reference rot where the hyperlink continues to work, but
the content of the site the link refers to has changed, but does
not tell a person where that site or document is now located. The
problem in the same in both cases. Information that one is looking
for is now not easily found, or cannot be found at all.”
A study titled “Something Rotten in
the State of Legal Citation: The Life Span of a United States
Supreme Court Citation Containing an Internet Link (1996-2010)”,
published in the Yale Journal of Law and Technology in 2013, found
that nearly one-third of the websites cited by the U.S. Supreme
Court were non-functioning, many of which linked to government or
education domains.
Solutions
In the US, Michigan’s Supreme Court
archives all its cited links through Perma.cc, a crowd sourced link
preservation site launched by the Harvard Library Innovation Lab.
While anyone can put links on the Perma.cc server, they have to be
renewed every two years in order to not expire. But links posted by
universities, courts and journal editors stay permanently in the
database.
There is also Webcite (http://www.webcitation.org/) which according to
Wikipedia is:
“an on-demand archiving service,
designed to digitally preserve scientific and educationally
important material on the web by making snapshots of Internet
contents as they existed at the time when a blogger, or a scholar
or a Wikipedia editor cited or quoted from it. The preservation
service enables verifiability of claims supported by the cited
sources even when the original web pages are being revised,
removed, or disappear for other reasons, an effect known as link
rot.”
WebCite is a non-profit consortium
supported by publishers and editors, and it can be used by
individuals without charge.
Read more https://www.nairalaw.com/nigerian-justices-moving-with-the-times-by-timothy-tion/