Traditionally, legal information is accessed through a legal report, usually written by individuals or groups. While recent court decisions have had official reports, in the past a court decision was simply issued, so the publication of established precedents depended on their record by interested third parties. The directories that recorded the judgments from 1268 to 1535 were probably compiled by law students. Others, such as Judge Sir Edward Coke from 1572 to 1615, then produced their own series of reports. That would not necessarily be an accurate account of what was said. What was recorded could have been selective or inaccurate. With the development of the reporting industry, more and more people got involved and specialized in certain areas of law. The Incorporated Council of Law Reporting was founded in 1885 and has published copies of various cases. However, there may still be gaps in the reports. With the advent of the Internet, it was possible to access several online databases for a fee, especially Westlaw or Lexis.
However, no freely accessible source had yet been established. The British and Irish Legal Information Institute (BAILII, pronounced /beɪliː/” Bailey”) provides legal information and, in particular, reports on cases tried by courts in the United Kingdom in general. The decisions of England and Wales, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, the European Union and the European Court of Human Rights are posted online. It is a partially online database of UK and Irish legislation, case law, law reform reports, treaties and some legal expertise. [1] [2] FOUNDED in December 2000 and founded as a charitable organization, BAILII is based at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies and is a member of the Movement for Open Access to Justice. Please note that the online library does not manage BAILII. BAILII has been criticised for the restrictions it imposes on its use: a Guardian editorial noted that BAILII “has done a wonderful job of making case law freely available to lawyers”, including “historical and European data that is otherwise very difficult to find”. However, it was also pointed out that as a small charity, the service “struggles to afford to host its 297,000 judgments and does not allow search engines to index them. In some cases, it is not even clear whether the Crown or the judge in question owns the copyright in the words, and reproduction on another website is prohibited. [5] Former BAILII president Henry Brooke defended his criticisms, stating that the restrictions on indexing were intended to ensure that documents could be retroactively modified or deleted for bureaucratic or legal reasons, such as errors, information that was not allowed to be published, or documents that were not properly anonymized.
The different series of cases produced by Bailii are as follows. Alert services allow you to stay up to date in your field of research in order to be informed of new books, journal articles, court decisions and legislative developments on your topic. Not all free subscriptions or databases offer the full range of alert options. If you`re having trouble setting up the notifications you need, please contact [email protected] for assistance. The British and Irish Legal Information Institute (BAILII) provides access to the most comprehensive British and Irish legal documents, available free of charge online. Afghanistan| | Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) | Bangladesh| | Bhutan Brunei | Cambodia| | China Cocos Islands (Keeling Islands| | Hong Kong India | Indonesia| Japan| Korea (North) | Korea (North) | Korea (South) | Korea (South) | Korea (South) | Korea (South) | | of the Lao people`s Democratic Republic | Macau, China Malaysia | | | Maldives Mongolia Nepal | Pakistan| | Papua New Guinea Philippines | | singapore south korea | Sri Lanka| Taiwan| Thailand| Timor-Leste| | Vietnam This guide contains a selection of legal alert services in select jurisdictions. This is not an exhaustive list of all available legal alert services. | Barbados Bermuda | | Caribbean Cuba | Dominican Republic| Haiti| Jamaica| | Trinidad and Tobago Much of the material available on BAILII is duplicated elsewhere, for example in legislation and in the decisions of some courts (e.g.
the Supreme Court). BAILII has an agreement with the Ministry of Justice that exempts it from certain prosecutions. [8] BAILII has received payments under this Agreement in the past. In the 2010/2011 tax year, BAILII received £35,468 under this contract. [9] An organization called Judgmental was founded to extract information from BAILII and make it indexable for search engines. The main options for receiving notification updates are via email or RSS feed. Email notifications often include brief summaries of the article, decision, etc.
