OPSI responds!
The Edinburgh University School of Law Scots Law News published a news item titled “And now for something a little different” that raises a number of important issues with respect to legal information and how this may have impacted one or more court cases and decisions.
The Scots Law News item states:
The exchange between the unfortunate counsel and the presiding judge gives one all the joys of schadenfreude and should be read in full. It becomes apparent that the Revenue and Customs Protection Office (RCPO) has conducted several cases on the basis of the wrong text of the Regulations in question, obtained from the unamended version thereof on the website of the Office of Public Sector Information. The case thus raises the question of the lack of a comprehensive, fully up-to-date official statutory database, ……….”
The transcript of the decision from the England and Wales Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) makes reference to down stream private sector re-users of legal public sector information. The decision states:
30. MR CAMMERMAN: Yes. My Lord, I checked this morning to see if other sources of information would also mislead and in fact the Lawtel and the Westlaw web sites, which are common sources of statutory instruments, also quote the Regulations in their amended form; that is to say, without the new paragraph 3(4) –
31. LORD JUSTICE TOULSON: Yes, they are private sector web sites, of course.
London: 30 September 2009
The UK Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) announced that All revised statutes from StatuteLaw.gov.uk now on the OPSI website.
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