Incorporated Council of Law Reporting

Incorporated Council of Law Reporting (ICLR) in United Kingdom

The ICLR was founded (as the Council for Law Reporting) in 1865 specifically to address the need for consistent and reliable coverage of those decisions that demonstrated not only the activity of justice but also the development of the common law. In its marketing material, the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting recently described itself as the “Hansard of the courts”, in the sense of providing a permanent record of their deliberations. However, while the Law Reports as a series, almost uniquely, includes an account of oral hearings as well as of the judgments eventually given, they cannot be regarded as offering anything like a comprehensive account of all litigation. With the resources available, that would have been impossible.

Moreover, printed reports cost money to produce and while the cost of subscriptions has, under the ICLR’s not-for-profit mission, always been kept as low as remains consistent with the costs of their preparation, it is not nothing. The Incorporated Council of Law Reporting does, however, provide free online summaries of the most important cases; something none of its commercial rivals is prepared to do.

Since the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting was not under a duty to provide a comprehensive public record of proceedings in court, for a case to be made public it had to be selected for publication. That was an editorial decision. The same is true of factual or journalistic reporting, of course. But it meant that, for many years, the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting performed a “gatekeeper” role in relation to legal decisions. If a decision wasn’t reported by the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting, the chances were that it wouldn’t be known about and vanished into obscurity. Indeed, ICLR used to rather picturesquely describe its reporters as the “guardians of precedent”.

The advent of the Internet has vastly reduced the ability of any one company or organisation to occupy this sort of gatekeeper role.

Tthe Incorporated Council of Law Reporting Online Products

  • The Law Reports
  • The Weekly Law Reports
  • The Industrial Cases Reports
  • The Business Law Reports
  • The Public & Third Sector Law Reports

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