Open law is the idea that public legal information should be freely available to everyone to access, use and republish. The current position in the UK differs completely as between legislation and case law.

In the July issue of the Internet Newsletter for Lawyers I consider the state of open law in the UK. As to legislation, legislation.gov.uk is a model of open law publishing. As to case law in England and Wales, public provision from most courts has improved considerably, but it is inexcusable for HMCTS not to invest in the minimum publishing infrastructure necessary to deliver properly edited open case law.