Command line utility for tracking Finnish legislation.
This is a yet unpublished Node package. Global installation (e.g. with npm's -g) is recommended. The utility can then be accessed globally with the command finlex.
Example file initially:
Statute or e.g. topic name;;;
;;https://data.finlex.fi/eli/sd/1997/1336/luku/2/pykala/9.html;This is a section
;;https://data.finlex.fi/eli/sd/1997/1336/luku/2/pykala/10.html;
;;https://data.finlex.fi/eli/sd/2003/728/.html; Note this is a whole statute
After finlex changes examples/initial.csv from 2000 we can view sections or whole statutes that have changed starting from statute 1/2000, preserving any comments and/or additional columns you might have had there:
Statute or e.g. topic name;;;
CHANGES;20160101;https://data.finlex.fi/eli/sd/1997/1336/luku/2/pykala/9.html; This is a section
CHANGES;20160101;https://data.finlex.fi/eli/sd/1997/1336/luku/2/pykala/10.html;
CHANGES;20160601;https://data.finlex.fi/eli/sd/2003/728/.html; This is a whole statute
And after manually reviewing the changes, we save the following CSV file:
Statute or e.g. topic name;;;
;20160101;https://data.finlex.fi/eli/sd/1997/1336/luku/2/pykala/9.html; This is a section
;20160101;https://data.finlex.fi/eli/sd/1997/1336/luku/2/pykala/10.html;
;20160601;https://data.finlex.fi/eli/sd/2003/728/.html; This is a whole statute
Reviews thereafter are initiated with finlex changes <file>.
Color highlighting for CSV is recommended. I guess this could work with a graphical editor such as Excel, too, but I haven't tried it.
Collaborative work on the file is possible through Git, for example.
The URLs on the list must point to a statute or section page in the Semantic Finlex. The easiest way to collect such pages while browsing current laws at Finlex is using the Finlex Ex browser extension.
Unfortunately, the Semantic Finlex is not updated nearly as frequently as Finlex. Therefore, you should treat this application as more of a proof-of concept rather than a reliable tool.