Who Owns the Law? Why We Must Restore Public Ownership of Legal Publishing

Authors

Leslie A. Street, Mercer University School of Law
David R. Hansen, Duke University

Abstract

Each state has its own method for officially publishing the law. This article looks at the history of legal publishing for the fifty states before looking at how legal publishing even in moving to electronic publishing may not ensure public access to the law. The article addresses barriers to free access to the law in electronic publishing including copyright, contract law, and potentially, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. The article concludes with prescriptions for how different actors, including state governments, publishers, libraries, and others can ensure robust public access to the law moving forward.

Recommended Citation

Leslie A. Street & David R. Hansen, Who Owns the Law? Why We Must Restore Public Ownership of Legal Publishing, 26 J. Intell. Prop. L. 205 (2020).
Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.uga.edu/jipl/vol26/iss2/2