DC Code XML

This repository contains the Code of the District of Columbia in XML format.

The DC Code in XML makes use of a custom schema that draws on ideas from Akoma Ntoso and United States Legislative Markup.

The schema can almost entirely be seen in the following four examples.

(1) Root element. The root element is a <level> element. It contains some metadata and nested <level> elements for the first level divisions of the code.

<level>
	<type>document</type>
	<heading>Code of the District of Columbia</heading>

	<meta>
		<recency>current through DC Act 19-658; unofficial through D.C. Act 19-682</recency>
	</meta>

	<!-- <level> elements as shown below -->

</level>

(2) "Big" levels. These are divisions, titles, chapters, and so on.

<level>
	<type>Title</type>
	<num>1</num>
	<heading>Government Organization</heading>

	<!-- other <level> elements nested here -->

</level>

(3) Sections and annotations.

<level>
	<type>Section</type>
	<num>2-531</num>
	<heading>Public policy.</heading>

	<text>The public policy of the District of Columbia is that all persons are entitled
	to full and complete information regarding the affairs of government and the official
	acts of those who represent them as public officials and employees. To that end,
	provisions of this subchapter shall be construed with the view toward expansion of public
	access and the minimization of costs and time delays to persons requesting information.</text>

	<level>
	  <type>annotations</type>
	  <level>
	    <heading>History</heading>
	    <text>(Oct. 21, 1968, Pub. L. 90-614, title II, ...</text>
	  </level>
	</level>
</level>

(4) Little levels

<level>
	<num>(c)</num>
	<heading>United States</heading>

	<text>The United States, its officers, employees, and agents, and its agencies shall not:</text>

	<level>
		<num>(1)</num>
		<text>Be responsible for the payment of any judgments, liabilities or costs resulting
		from any action or proceeding against the District of Columbia or its agencies,
		officers, employees, or agents;</text>
	</level>

	<!-- other <level> elements nested here -->
</level>

XInclude

The Code begins in index.xml but is broken apart into many small files using XInclude. Any "big" <level> element may be replaced by an XInclude element referencing another file, using a relative path, whose root node semantically belongs at the location of the XInclude.

We split the code at Titles, Chapters, Sections, and several other big levels between Chapter and Section. An XInclude element never appears within a Section or placeholder.

The top-level index.xml file looks like this:

<level>
  <type>document</type>
  <heading>Code of the District of Columbia</heading>
  <meta>
    <recency>current through DC Act 19-658; unofficial through D.C. Act 19-682</recency>
  </meta>
  <level>
    <type>Division</type>
    <num>I</num>
    <heading>Government of District</heading>
    <ns0:include xmlns:ns0="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude" href="Title-1/index.xml"/>
    <ns0:include xmlns:ns0="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude" href="Title-2/index.xml"/>
    <ns0:include xmlns:ns0="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude" href="Title-3/index.xml"/>
    ...
  </level>
  <level>
    <type>Division</type>
    <num>II</num>
    <heading>Judiciary and Judicial Procedure</heading>
    <ns0:include xmlns:ns0="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude" href="Title-11/index.xml"/>
    <ns0:include xmlns:ns0="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude" href="Title-12/index.xml"/>
    ...
</level>

The namespace prefix ns0 is subject to change.

Root Element and Metadata

The root element is a <level>, like most other nodes in the schema. We are not using namespaces.

The root element contains a <meta> element with document metadata. The <meta> element is followed by <level> elements representing the Divisions of the Code. In the actual root file index.xml in this repository some of the <level> elements shown below are replaced by XIncludes, but we show them replaced with their referenced content here to highlight the intended semantics.

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>
<level>
  <type>document</type>
  <heading>Code of the District of Columbia</heading>

  <meta>
    <recency>current through DC Act 19-658; unofficial through D.C. Act 19-682</recency>
  </meta>

  <level>
    <type>Division</type>
    <num>I</num>
    <heading>Government of District</heading>

    <level>
      <type>Title</type>
      <num>1</num>
      <heading>Government Organization</heading>

      <level>
        <type>Chapter</type>
        <num>1</num>
        <heading>District of Columbia Government Development</heading>

        <level>
          <type>Subchapter</type>
          <num>I</num>
          <heading>District of Columbia Establishment</heading>

          <level>
            <type>Section</type>
            <num>1-101</num>
            <heading>Territorial area.</heading>
            
            <text>The District of Columbia is that portion of the territory
            of the United States ceded by the State of Maryland for the permanent
            seat of government of the United States....

Levels

All hierarchy of the Code is represented by <level> elements. This includes both "big" levels (titles, chapters, etc.), sections, and "little" levels (subsections, paragraphs, and so on).

A <level> contains any of the following subelements:

• <type>: The text in this element indicates the type of the level, as follows:

• document: The root of the entire document. There is one such element and it is at the top of the hierarchy.

• Article, Chapter, Division, Part, Subchapter, Subdivision, Subpart, Subtitle, Title, and Unit: These are the "big" levels on the spine above the level of a Section.

• Section: Sections of the code (e.g. § 1-101), the primary levels where text and annotations occur.

• placeholder: The level is section-like but it represents Code sections that no longer exist or may exist in the future but do not exist now. Placeholder levels often have text and annotations like sections. They are documented specifically in a section below.

• annotations: Annotation blocks.

• appendices: Appendices to a section (typically but not always within Section-levels).

• form and table: Blocks that are rendered with internal whitespace preserved. form contains quoted language that the Code is directing to be used on government forms. table contains pay schedules and other tables that are layed out in a monospace font.

• When <type> is omitted, the level is a numbered paragraph (i.e. (1) The public policy....) or an unnumbered block with a heading. Inside annotations, subheadings are represented this way.

• <num>: The level's number.

• For "big" levels, this usually is a number, letter, or roman numeral.

• For sections, the number is typically (but not always) in the format 1-101. It never includes the §-symbol.

• For "little" levels, this is the paragraph's numbering including any parenthesis around the numbering. An example would be (12A-i).

• <num> isn't ever required. When <num> is omitted, the level is simply unnumbered. document and placeholder levels never have <num> elements. For placeholders, see below.

• <heading>: The level's name or heading.

• For "big" levels, sections, placeholders, and subheadings in annotations, this is the name of the level, such as Government Organization.

• A heading can also appear on "little" levels.

• <text> and <level> content elements.

• Zero or more <text> and <level> elements can appear within a <level> and should be rendered in document order.

• Multiple <text> elements are rendered as separate paragraphs. If a paragraph <level> has a <num> and/or <heading>, it is usually rendered inside and at the start of the first <text> paragraph.

Text

Text content is contained within <text> elements inside <level>s. <text> may be interleaved with other <text> and <level> elements and should be rendered in document order. Each <text> element is a separate paragraph. These elements contain HTML, e.g.:

<text>One <span style="font-style: italic; ">ex officio </span>Commissioner,
the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development;</text>

An optional class attribute can be one of:

• centered: The paragraph is rendered with centered text alignment.

Inside the <text> element is HTML conforming to the following restrictions:

• Only bare text and <span> elements may appear.
• <span> elements may have a style attribute containing only the following CSS:
• font-weight: bold;
• font-style: italic;
• text-decoration: underline;
• font-family: monospace;

Placeholders

Placeholder levels are similar to levels with type=Section but represent Code sections that no longer exist or may exist in the future but do not exist now. Here is an example:

<level>
  <type>placeholder</type>
  <reason>Not funded</reason>
  <section>1-136.01</section>
  <heading>Establishment of the 51st State Commission.</heading>
  <text>[Not funded].</text>
  <level>
    <type>annotations</type>
    ...

These levels do not have a <num> element. The <heading> element typically contains the name of the section that was removed. These levels may also have these other child elements:

• <reason>: The reason for the placeholder.
• When present, one of Expired, Not funded, Omitted, Repealed, Reserved, and Transferred.
• When not present, the reason for the placeholder is not indicated in the code.
• <section>: The number of the omitted section (e.g. 1-136.01).

In place of <section>, a placeholder may instead contain:

• <section-start>: The number of the first omitted section in a range of omitted sections.
• <section-end>: The number of the last omitted section in a range of omitted sections.
• <section-range-type>: This element contains the text range if all sections between start and end are omitted (usually rendered as "A to B") or list if the start and end name two sections but a range is not implied (usually rendered as "A, B").