You can get a description of the table of contents (TOC) of a work. This includes the chapters, parts, sections and schedules that make up the legislation, based on the structure captured by the Laws.Africa editor.
How to use the Table of Contents API
/how-to-guides/how-to-use-the-table-of-contents-api
Each item in the table of contents has this structure:
{
  "id": "chapter-1",
  "type": "chapter",
  "num": "1",
  "heading": "Interpretation",
  "title": "Chapter 1 - Interpretation",
  "component": "main",
  "subcomponent": "chapter/1",
  "url": "http://api.laws.africa/v2/akn/za/act/1998/10/eng/main/chapter/1",
  "children": [ "..." ]
}
Each of these fields is described in the table below.
Field
Description
Type
id
The unique XML element id of this item. (optional)
String
type
The Akoma Ntoso element name of this item.
String
num
The number of this item, such as a chapter, part or section number. (optional)
String
heading
The heading of this item (optional)
String
title
A derived, friendly title of this item, taking num and heading into account and providing good defaults if either of those is missing.
String
component
The component of the Akoma Ntoso document that this item is a part of, such as main for the main document, or schedule1 for the first schedule.
String
subcomponent
The subcomponent of the component that this item is a part of, such as a chapter. (optional)
String
url
The API URL for this item, which can be used to fetch XML, HTML and other details of just this part of the document.
String
children
A possibly-empty array of TOC items that are children of this item.
Arra
get
Table of  contents for an expression
https://api.laws.africa/v2/:frbr-uri/toc.json
Gets the Table of Contents for a particular expression in JSON format.
Request
Response
Request
Path Parameters
frbr-uri
required
string
Full FRBR URI for the work
Headers
Authorization
required
string
Authentication token to identify you.
Response
200: OK
The Table of Contents for this expression, in JSON format.
{
  "toc": [
    {
      "type": "preface",
      "component": "main",
      "subcomponent": "preface",
      "title": "Preface",
      "url": "https://api.laws.africa/v2/akn/na/act/2001/16/eng@2005-03-01/main/preface"
    },
    {
      "type": "section",
      "component": "main",
      "subcomponent": "section/1",
      "title": "1. Definitions",
      "heading": "Definitions",
      "num": "1.",
      "id": "section-1",
      "url": "https://api.laws.africa/v2/akn/na/act/2001/16/eng@2005-03-01/main/section/1"
    },
  ]
}
Individual parts, chapters and sections
You can use the url field from an item in the Table of Contents to fetch the details of just that item in XML or HTML.
get
Content for a single part, chapter or section
https://api.laws.africa/v2/:frbr-uri/:toc-item.:format
Get the content of a particular Table of Contents item.
Request
Response
Request
Path Parameters
frbr-uri
required
string
The full FRBR URI for the expression.
toc-item
required
string
The Table of Contents item to fetch.
format
optional
string
Response format: XML or HTML.
Response
200: OK
The HTML or XML of the requested item.
<section class="akn-section" id="section-9" data-id="section-9"><h3>9. The rescue of stray dogs</h3>
<section class="akn-paragraph akn--no-indent" id="section-9.paragraph-0" data-id="section-9.paragraph-0">
<span class="akn-content"><span class="akn-p">A <span class="akn-term" data-refersTo="#term-person" id="trm257" data-id="trm257">person</span> who rescues a stray <span class="akn-term" data-refersTo="#term-dog" id="trm258" data-id="trm258">dog</span> shall report the date and time of the rescue and a description of the <span class="akn-term" data-refersTo="#term-dog" id="trm259" data-id="trm259">dog</span> to the <span class="akn-term" data-refersTo="#term-Council" id="trm260" data-id="trm260">Council</span> within twenty four hours.</span></span></section></section>

Last updated 4 months ago

Field	Description	Type
id	The unique XML element id of this item. (optional)	String
type	The Akoma Ntoso element name of this item.	String
num	The number of this item, such as a chapter, part or section number. (optional)	String
heading	The heading of this item (optional)	String
title	A derived, friendly title of this item, taking `num` and `heading` into account and providing good defaults if either of those is missing.	String
component	The component of the Akoma Ntoso document that this item is a part of, such as `main` for the main document, or `schedule1` for the first schedule.	String
subcomponent	The subcomponent of the component that this item is a part of, such as a chapter. (optional)	String
url	The API URL for this item, which can be used to fetch XML, HTML and other details of just this part of the document.	String
children	A possibly-empty array of TOC items that are children of this item.	Arra

Table of Contents

getTable of contents for an expression

Individual parts, chapters and sections

getContent for a single part, chapter or section

get
Table of contents for an expression

get
Content for a single part, chapter or section