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The principle of public access to official records is designed to ensure that the public has a good understanding of, and can exercise civilian control over, the actions of the authorities. However, it does not give publicity to all governmental documents. For example, the deliberations of boards and working committees are usually not public.
For example, Florida's Sunshine Law creates both a statutory and constitutional right to access whereas many states only provide the statutory right. [2] Additionally, while a state may have strong legislation the state's compliance with its own laws may negatively impact the public's ability to access records. [11]
Freedom of information laws allow access by the general public to data held by national governments and, where applicable, by state and local governments. The emergence of freedom of information legislation was a response to increasing dissatisfaction with the secrecy surrounding government policy development and decision making. [1]
The FOIA was initially introduced as the bill S. 1160 in the 89th Congress. When the two-page bill was signed into law, it became Pub. L. 89–487, 80 Stat. 250, enacted July 4, 1966, but had an effective date of one year after the date of enactment, or July 4, 1967. The law set up the structure of FOIA as we know it today.
Lobbying includes approaching a public official in secret, possibly giving them money. But petitioning, as America's founders knew it, was a public process, involving no money. Some litigants have contended that the right to petition the government includes a requirement that the government listen to or respond to members of the public.
Section 135(1) of the Courts of Justice Act (Ontario) states the general principle that "all court hearings shall be open to the public".. Subsection 486(1) of the Criminal Code states: "Any proceedings against an accused shall be held in open court, but where the presiding judge, provincial court judge or justice, as the case may be, is of the opinion that it is in the interest of public ...
"Institutional Settlement." As the name suggests, the legal process school was deeply interested in the processes by which law is made, and particularly in a federal system, how authority to answer various questions is distributed vertically (as between state and federal governments) and horizontally (as between branches of government) and how this impacts on the legitimacy of decisions.
It also includes legal documents created as a result of public funding. A legal information institute, Publishes via the internet public legal information originating from more than one public body; Provides free, full and anonymous public access to that information; Does not impede others from publishing public legal information; and