#Books are the tools of trade of lawyers. Primary law materials, whether they are statutes or judgments are recorded, published and read in book format. Secondary materials, such as, text and case books are likewise published in book form. Architects, engineers, builders and mariners primarily work from plans, diagrams and charts. In recent times the law has made use of diagrams and flowcharts to enhance access to and understanding of the law. For example, diagrams and flowcharts can be found in statutes such as, ... Flowcharts can also be found in textbooks, such as...

# It is possible to go further in transforming the way the law is recorded and read from the material literary book format to the diagrammatic plan, chart or broadsheet format. The way in which the law has evolved conveniently lends itself to these alternative formats. Examples can be drawn from Contract law, Intellectual Property law and Taxation Law...

This is at the heart of what Jello is working on in India. He cites four examples, RTF diagrams, that are pretty damned cool, considering that its... just RTF. He uses different levels of abstraction to represent the process of law, as well as the flow of individual cases.

This is a more intuitive representation for legal data than the "stack of text files" folder paradigm. Its really good to see that someone with so many degrees agrees.