In addition we have bibliographical databases over legal literature with about 15.000 entries. Altogether this material total about 1 Gb raw text. Clearly we have resevations about launching an Internet system which has the least possibilty og jeopardizing this income. On the other hand, if we fail to jump on the Internet bandwagon, this income might very well slowly evaporate in the years to come. The challenge of the Internet Historically speaking it has not been a function of the state to supply its citizens with statutes and regulations free of charge.
Most states publish new legislation in a legal gazette, but only in very limited editions.
Most publishing, either paper based or electronic, has been the domain of commercial companies and aimed primarily at legal professionals. Court cases have also tradtionally been published commercially. The market has consisted mainly of lawyers and academic institutions. There has really been no need for subsidized publishing, and there has also been concern for the possibility that the publishing of court cases by the state could lead to manipulation in the sense that cases decided against the state could be suppressed. Finally, it has been widely believed that legal information systems in general are best left to commercial operators selling the services directly to the end-users, because market mechanisms will then ensure that the systems develope according to user needs.