1. A method for providing path-level access control to a structured document in a collection stored in a database, wherein the structured document comprises a plurality of nodes, comprising the steps of: a) providing an access control policy for the collection, wherein the access control policy comprises a plurality of access control rules; b) generating a path for each node of the plurality of nodes in the document; and c) generating for each path associated with a node a corresponding value expression based on at least one access control rule of the plurality of access control rules, wherein the corresponding value expression is utilized during access control evaluation to determine whether a user is allowed to access a node in the structured document.