The Centre for Criminal Justice Studies, University of Leeds is sponsored by a Hamlyn Trust Fund (50th Anniversary Award), to create a world wide web site, UK Law Online: The UK Legal System on the Internet. The site is designed to promote understanding of the law and the legal system of the United Kingdom by means of formats and language which will be non-technical and accessible to members of the general public.

The Internet is a new interactive medium which involves a direct and continuous access to the users, and our project is a new way of access to the public in general. We will try to indicate to the public the nature and availability of their legal system by providing complex legal information in an understandable and engaging way. The users will have direct access to our team by electronic mail, but the project is not intended for individual legal advice. Rather we intend to offer generalised education and the improvement of knowledge on important legal issues: we are the people’s legal web site!

The available items so far include the following:

• United Kingdom Legal Systems : sources, subject-matter, courts, administration

Future materials will cover:

• European Law : The European Union and the European Convention on Human Rights
• The Criminal Justice System: Sentencing, young offenders, legal aid
• The Civil Justice System: Tribunals, Appeals and Judicial Review, Legal Aid and Small Claims
• Informal Justice: Ombudsmen, Citizen’s Charter
• Civil Liberties: Police and the Citizen, Sex Discrimination, Broadcasting Standards Commission, Press Complaints Commission
• Law of Contract and Tort: contractual claims, Accidents

Further information about the project is available at:

http://www.leeds.ac.uk/law/hamlyn/intro.htm

One special feature designed to attract the attention of both groups of potential users would be a special section dealing with current legal issues such as pending legislation, proposals and cases which draw the attention of the public in newspapers and television. These may include libel cases, miscarriage of justice cases, criminal trials, new government proposals such as on stalking.

The topics covered so far are:

• Princess Diana, Privacy Laws, and Press Freedom in the UK
• Devolution to Scotland & Wales

These are accessible at:

http://www.leeds.ac.uk/law/hamlyn/newsroom.htm

Online usage is increasingly heavy - mainly from the UK but with some international traffic. Our target markets are principally non-lawyers, and we have especially tried to make the materials accessible and interesting to groups such as school students. We are currently compiling a users panel which will mainly consist of schools, colleges and citizens’ advice bureaux. We have received many positive messages of support for our site. But our sponsorship will end later this year. Therefore, we would welcome sponsorship to cover the future development of this project. We can offer in return advertised web links or other messages so long as they are compatible with our project. If you are interested in sponsoring us, then please contact us as below.

Go back to UK Law Online home page

Last Updated 13 March 1998.