The Guardian Praises Bailii

In praise of… free law

Leader – The Guardian
Monday September 3, 2007

History tends to forget that the Sheriff of Nottingham had a greater purpose than hunting down Robin Hood. Like every county sheriff, he was supposed to ensure that the burghers of Notts knew the law of the land, however recently it had been proclaimed in distant Westminster. The injustice of this myth of convenience never troubled Robin Hood, but it did worry Hobbes, Bentham and, more recently, the magisterial Lord Brooke, a former chairman of the Law Commission and appeal court judge. In the internet era, there is still no government-funded, universally accessible system of reporting the judgments of the high court or the court of appeal, nor of the immigration and employment tribunals that shape the lives of thousands of individuals. But happily, there is Bailii, the British and Irish Legal Information Institute, a charity devoted to freeing the law and whose trustees are chaired by Lord Brooke. Since 1999, Bailii has been amassing past judgments and negotiating to publish current and future ones. This is not just a wheeze for lawyers to get something for nothing, nor is it only for people fighting their own cases through the courts. It provides a constitutional right, allowing anyone interested to read the decisions taken most days in the courts that influence the public domain. With a handful of people, a budget of just £120,000 a year, and a shrewd grasp of what technology can do, it is finally making a reality of the ancient quest for universal access to common law.