The Visualization of Law: The Example of 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLOT)
Open Access
- Author:
- Jarecki, John
- Area of Honors:
- Political Science (Behrend)
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Arts
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- John King Gamble, Jr., Thesis Supervisor
Robert W. Speel, Thesis Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- Visualization
Legal Visuals
Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties
Common Law
Civil Law
International Law
Information Design
Customary Law
Visualization of Law - Abstract:
- Since the emergence of Roman law , textuality has dominated the legal space and has become the predominant mode of legal implementation, communication, and education. This is most obvious in the American common law tradition, in which written briefs, memos, court decisions, and other legal documents constitute necessary elements of the legal process, codifying precedents and court outcomes. In recent decades, however, there has been significant interest in the project of legal visualization; the creation of graphs and pictorial representations that aid in the project of legal education and communication. Those interested in visualization acknowledge the fact that law in its current ‘black letter’ form is inaccessible to many who are often overwhelmed by the complicated principles and esoteric terms of legal writings. The topic of visualization is timely. The use of technology, social media, and other related developments are priming students to connect more readily with images and charts over long strings of text . In the this thesis I shall review these legal visualization strategies, explore how they have been implemented in the past, and use the frequently taught 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VLOT) as a ‘test case’ in an effort to understand how visualization may be further used in the future.