Legal Information Institutes Around the World

The most recent issue of the Canadian Law Library Review (v.30 no. 1) - not available online - contains a number of very detailed articles about the role and history of "legal information institutes" and their use of Web technologies to disseminate legal materials to the general citizenry.

These institutes, CANLII, Legal Information Institute, Australian Legal Information Institute, British & Irish Legal Information Institute, World Legal Information Institute, Droit francophone , among others, all share the philosophy that public legal information from all countries and international institutions is part of the "common heritage of humanity" and should be seen as "digital common property".

The main articles are:

• The development of the Legal Information Institutes around the world
• Responding to the fragmentation of International Law - WorldLII's International Courts and Tribunals Project
• Les défis de la publication de la jurisprudence et le modèle d'opération de IIJCan/CanLII (The challenges of legal publishing and the CanLII operating model)

Most law libraries will no doubt have a subscription to the review.