LexSearch: a specialized database for legislative documents

The Lexsearch system is part of a broader project aimed at building a computational support system for drafting legislative texts. In the global architecture of the system, Lexsearch is placed in an intermediary position between two other modules: Lexedit and Lavagna. Lavagna will be the framework which, in the phase of drafting, will enable the user to choose the structure of the new text, selecting the type of document. Once the user has selected the model, he can `assemble´ the legislative contents, choosing each kind of provision from menus presented by Lavagna. Lexedit will supply the lexical and syntactic linguistic tool. Lexsearch will be capable of exploiting the structural and functional organisation of the texts in order to carry out conceptual retrieval and diagnosis. The present function of Lexsearch (and of Lexedit) is to identify lexical, syntactic and structural models that constitute Lavagna´s menus, obviously by working on existing legislative texts, for abstracting and generalising formal and non ambiguous models