vanhthefirst/vietnamese-legal-documents

---
language:
- vi
license: cc-by-4.0
pretty_name: Vietnamese Legal Documents
size_categories:
- 100K<n<1M
task_categories:
- text-classification
- text-generation
- question-answering
- summarization
tags:
- legal
- vietnamese
- law
- government
configs:
- config_name: metadata
data_files:
- split: data
path: data/metadata.parquet
- config_name: relationships
data_files:
- split: data
path: data/relationships.parquet
- config_name: content
data_files:
- split: data
path: data/content.parquet
dataset_info:
- config_name: metadata
features:
- name: id
dtype: int64
- name: title
dtype: string
- name: so_ky_hieu
dtype: string
- name: ngay_ban_hanh
dtype: string
- name: loai_van_ban
dtype: string
- name: ngay_co_hieu_luc
dtype: string
- name: ngay_het_hieu_luc
dtype: string
- name: nguon_thu_thap
dtype: string
- name: ngay_dang_cong_bao
dtype: string
- name: nganh
dtype: string
- name: linh_vuc
dtype: string
- name: co_quan_ban_hanh
dtype: string
- name: chuc_danh
dtype: string
- name: nguoi_ky
dtype: string
- name: pham_vi
dtype: string
- name: thong_tin_ap_dung
dtype: string
- name: tinh_trang_hieu_luc
dtype: string
num_rows: 153420
- config_name: relationships
features:
- name: doc_id
dtype: int64
- name: other_doc_id
dtype: string
- name: relationship
dtype: string
num_rows: 897890
- config_name: content
features:
- name: id
dtype: string
- name: content_html
dtype: string
num_rows: 178665
---

# Vietnamese Legal Documents

A comprehensive collection of Vietnamese legal documents — laws, decrees, circulars, decisions, and other normative acts — sourced from [vbpl.vn](https://vbpl.vn), the official Government Legal Document Portal operated by the Ministry of Justice. The dataset includes structured metadata for every document, raw HTML full-text content, and a rich graph of cross-document legal relationships (amendments, citations, repeals, etc.).

- **Curated by:** [Thịnh Ngô](https://huggingface.co/th1nhng0)
- **Source:** [vbpl.vn](https://vbpl.vn)
- **Language:** Vietnamese
- **License:** [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

## Quick Start

```python
from datasets import load_dataset

# Metadata for all 153k documents
meta = load_dataset("th1nhng0/vietnamese-legal-documents", "metadata", split="data")
print(meta.to_pandas().head())

# Cross-document relationships (amendments, citations, repeals, …)
rels = load_dataset("th1nhng0/vietnamese-legal-documents", "relationships", split="data")
print(rels.to_pandas().head())

# Full-text HTML content for ~149k documents
content = load_dataset("th1nhng0/vietnamese-legal-documents", "content", split="data")
print(content.to_pandas().head())
```

Join the two on `id` (metadata) ↔ `doc_id` (relationships):

```python
import pandas as pd

df = meta.to_pandas()
rel = rels.to_pandas()

# Find all documents that cite document 10420
citing = rel[rel["other_doc_id"] == "10420"].merge(df, left_on="doc_id", right_on="id")
print(citing[["id", "title", "relationship"]])
```

## Dataset Structure

The dataset has three configs:

| Config | Rows | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `metadata` | 153,420 | One row per document — 16 metadata fields |
| `content` | 178,665 | Raw HTML full-text content |
| `relationships` | 897,890 | Directed edges between documents |

### `metadata`

| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| `id` | Unique document ID (int) |
| `title` | Full Vietnamese title |
| `so_ky_hieu` | Official number, e.g. `115/NQ-HĐBCQG` |
| `ngay_ban_hanh` | Issuance date (`DD/MM/YYYY`) |
| `loai_van_ban` | Type — Quyết định, Nghị quyết, Thông tư, … |
| `ngay_co_hieu_luc` | Effective date |
| `ngay_het_hieu_luc` | Expiry date (empty if still in effect) |
| `nguon_thu_thap` | Collection source (e.g. Công báo) |
| `ngay_dang_cong_bao` | Official Gazette publication date |
| `nganh` | Sector — Tài chính, Y tế, … |
| `linh_vuc` | Legal field / sub-domain |
| `co_quan_ban_hanh` | Issuing authority (551 unique bodies) |
| `chuc_danh` | Signatory title — Chủ tịch, Bộ trưởng, … |
| `nguoi_ky` | Signatory name |
| `pham_vi` | Geographical scope |
| `thong_tin_ap_dung` | Implementation note |
| `tinh_trang_hieu_luc` | Effect status — Còn hiệu lực, Hết hiệu lực toàn bộ, … |

### `content`

| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| `id` | Document ID (join key → `metadata.id`) |
| `content_html` | Raw HTML body of the document |

> **Note:** Some documents in `metadata` do not have a corresponding entry in `content` because the portal only provides PDF scans for those documents (no HTML version available).

### `relationships`

| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| `doc_id` | Source document ID (join key → `metadata.id`) |
| `other_doc_id` | Target document ID |
| `relationship` | Edge label |

## Statistics




## Data Collection

All data was scraped from [vbpl.vn](https://vbpl.vn) using a [Scrapy](https://scrapy.org/) crawler (included under [`crawler/`](crawler/)). Metadata and cross-document relationships were extracted directly from the portal's structured pages.

```bash
cd crawler

scrapy crawl vbpl -a seed_file=data/ids.txt # basic
scrapy crawl vbpl -a seed_file=data/ids.txt -a proxy_file=proxies.txt # with proxies
scrapy crawl vbpl -a seed_file=data/ids.txt -a resume=1 # resume
```

Output: `data/raw.jsonl`

## Limitations

- Coverage depends on what [vbpl.vn](https://vbpl.vn) has indexed; older or undigitized documents may be missing.
- Effect status reflects the portal at crawl time and may lag behind real-world changes.
- This is a snapshot, not a live mirror. Always cross-check with the portal for authoritative status.

## Privacy

The dataset contains names of document signatories (public officials acting in their official capacity). No private citizen data is included.

## Citation

```bibtex
@dataset{ngo_thinh_2026_vietnamese_legal,
title = {Vietnamese Legal Documents},
author = {Thịnh Ngô},
year = {2026},
publisher = {Hugging Face},
url = {https://huggingface.co/datasets/th1nhng0/vietnamese-legal-documents},
}
```

## License

Vietnamese legal documents are **public domain** under the [Law on Access to Information (No. 104/2016/QH13)](https://chinhphu.vn/default.aspx?pageid=27160&docid=184568) and the [Law on Promulgation of Legal Documents (No. 64/2025/QH15)](https://chinhphu.vn/?pageid=27160&docid=213327&classid=1&typegroupid=3).

The compiled dataset (schema, processing, curation) is released under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Not a substitute for legal advice.

> **Note:** The previous version (sourced from thuvienphapluat.vn) was discontinued following a content removal request. This is a fully rebuilt dataset sourced exclusively from [vbpl.vn](https://vbpl.vn), the official Government Legal Document Portal. Full-text document content in Markdown is coming in a future release.