Legal Information Institute
The home page of LII on 03/03/2010
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Type of site
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Nonprofit, Open Access to US Law |
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| Available in | English, some French |
| Owner | Cornell Law School |
| Created by | Peter Martin and Tom Bruce |
| Slogan(s) | Providing free online access to law. |
| Website | law.cornell.edu |
| Commercial | No |
| Registration | Optional |
| Launched | January 1, 1992 |
| Current status | Available |
The Legal Information Institute (LII) is a non-profit, public service of Cornell Law School that provides no-cost access to current American and international legal research sources online at law.cornell.edu. The organization is a pioneer in the delivery of legal information online. Founded in 1992 by Peter Martin and Tom Bruce, LII was the first law site developed on the internet. LII electronically publishes on the Web the U.S. Code, U.S. Supreme Court opinions, Uniform Commercial Code, the US Code of Federal Regulations, several Federal Rules, and a variety of other American primary law materials. LII also provides access to other national and international sources, such as treaties and United Nations materials. According to its website, the LII serves over 30 million unique visitors per year.
Since its inception, the Legal Information Institute has inspired others around the world to develop namesake operations. These services are part of the Free Access to Law Movement.
LII was established in 1992 at Cornell Law School by Professor Peter Martin and Tom Bruce with a $250,000 multi-year startup grant from the National Center for Automated Information Research. The LII was originally based on and provided access to United States Supreme Court decisions and the US Code. Its original mission included the intent to "carry out applied research on the use of digital information technology in the distribution of legal information,...[and t]o make law more accessible." In the early years of LII, Bruce developed Cello the first web browser for Microsoft Windows. Cello was released on 8 June 1993. In 1994 LII moved from to the Web. Since 2007 the IRS has distributed its IRS Tax Products DVD with LII's version of 26 USC (Internal Revenue Code).
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