The author presents the first-ever map of Australian law, created by projecting every law, regulation, and case onto a two-dimensional map based on their similarity in meaning. The map reveals hidden connections and divisions within Australian law, showing an invisible barrier between cases and legislation, as well as the absence of borders between different jurisdictions. Surprisingly, migration, family, and substantive criminal law are the most isolated branches of case law on the map and are the most distant from legislation. The map also demonstrates a continuum of Australian case law, with porous borders between different branches. The author outlines the process of semantically mapping data, highlighting the importance of vectorization and dimensionality reduction in creating such maps.
https://umarbutler.com/mapping-almost-every-law-regulation-and-case-in-australia/