The Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for England and Wales (ICLR) is a

registered charity A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definition of a ch ...

based in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, that publishes law reports of

English law English law is the common law legal system of England and Wales, comprising mainly criminal law and civil law, each branch having its own courts and procedures. Principal elements of English law Although the common law has, historically, be ...

. The company is widely recognised as a reputable producer of reports (and the only 'official' source), which are used by

student A student is a person enrolled in a school or other educational institution. In the United Kingdom and most commonwealth countries, a "student" attends a secondary school or higher (e.g., college or university); those in primary or elementar ...

s, academics,

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

s and

judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

s across the country.

History

The ICLR was founded in 1865 by W. T. S. Daniel QC, and its first meeting took place on 25 February at

Westminster Hall The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parli ...

, then the home of the Court of King's Bench, the Court of Common Pleas and the Court of Chancery. The council was incorporated under the Companies Act 1862 in 1870. Largely working "as a private enterprise without state aid or interference," the council "was not intended to be profit-making except in so far as it was necessary to make it self-supporting." Working on this principle, the Council applied in 1966 for registration to become an official charity under section 4 of th
Charities Act 1960
Upon rejection by the

Charity Commission , type = Non-ministerial government department , seal = , seal_caption = , logo = Charity Commission for England and Wales logo.svg , logo_caption = , formed = , preceding1 = , ...

the council appealed under section 5(3) of the 1960 Act, an action granted by Mr Justice Foster in the Chancery Division of the High Court. On appeal by the Inland Revenue to the Court of Appeal, who were joint defendants with the

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

, it was held that "the Council was established for exclusively charitable purposes since its purpose was to further the development and administration of the law and to make it known or accessible to all members of the community, which was a purpose beneficial to the community and of general public utility." In 1970, then, the ICLR was successfully registered as a charity in England and Wales. Currently chaired by Richard Fleck CBE, the ICLR's council consists of members nominated by each of the Inns of Court and by the

General Council of the Bar The General Council of the Bar, commonly known as the Bar Council, is the representative body for barristers in England and Wales. Established in 1894, the Bar Council is the 'approved regulator' of barristers, but discharges its regulatory functi ...

, and is based on Chancery Lane,

Objectives and procedures

According to the company's memorandum of association, the ICLR was established with the following principal aim: The ICLR also has a set of criteria for law reporting, originally proposed by

Nathaniel Lindley Nathaniel Lindley, Baron Lindley, (29 November 1828 – 9 December 1921) was an English judge. Early life He was the second son of the botanist Dr. John Lindley, born at Acton Green, London. From his mother's side, he was descended from Sir Edw ...

(who later became Master of the Rolls and subsequently a Lord of Appeal), which said that care should be taken to exclude from the reports those cases that passed without discussion and were valueless as precedents, and those that were substantially repetitions of earlier reports to which was added the following list of valuable (and thus worthy of reporting) categories:

Publications

The primary series of reports published by the ICLR is The Law Reports, which the Council maintains are "'the most authoritative reports' and should always be 'cited in preference where there is a choice'." This series is divided into four main sub-series: *Law Reports, Appeal Cases (AC), covering decisions of the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

(and, since 2005, the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

), the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

and the Court of Appeal – started in 1866 as the Law Reports, English & Irish Appeals, renamed in 1875 and redesigned in 1891; *Law Reports, Chancery Division (Ch), covering decisions of the Chancery Division of the High Court – started in 1865 as the Law Reports, Chancery Appeal Cases, renamed in 1875 and redesigned in 1890; *Law Reports, Family Division (Fam), covering decisions of the Family Division of the High Court – started in 1865 as the Law Reports, Probate & Divorce Cases, renamed Law Reports, Probate, Divorce & Admiralty Division in 1875, renamed Law Reports, Probate in 1891 and renamed in 1972; and *Law Reports, Queen's Bench (QB), covering decision of the Queen's Bench Division of the High Court – started in 1865, renamed Law Reports, Queen's Bench Division in 1875, renamed in 1891, renamed Law Reports, King's Bench in 1901 and renamed in 1952. Additional reports published by the ICLR include The Weekly Law Reports (W.L.R.), started in 1953 and covering what the ICLR describe as "the cases that really matter, which either develop the law in some way or introduce a new point of law"; the

Industrial Cases Reports The Industrial Cases Reports is a series of law reports published by the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting. It focuses on employment law, covering cases from the Employment Appeal Tribunal The Employment Appeal Tribunal is a tribunal in Engl ...

(I.C.R.), started in 1975 and covering cases of employment law heard in the House of Lords, the Court of Appeal, the High Court, the

Employment Appeal Tribunal The Employment Appeal Tribunal is a tribunal in England and Wales and Scotland, and is a superior court of record. Its primary role is to hear appeals from Employment Tribunals in England, Scotland and Wales. It also hears appeals from decisions o ...

and the

European Court of Justice The European Court of Justice (ECJ, french: Cour de Justice européenne), formally just the Court of Justice, is the supreme court of the European Union in matters of European Union law. As a part of the Court of Justice of the European Un ...

, as well as "cases of special interest" from the Privy Council, the

Court of Session The Court of Session is the supreme civil court of Scotland and constitutes part of the College of Justice; the supreme criminal court of Scotland is the High Court of Justiciary. The Court of Session sits in Parliament House in Edinburgh ...

and

employment tribunal Employment tribunals are tribunal public bodies in England and Wales and Scotland which have statutory jurisdiction to hear many kinds of disputes between employers and employees. The most common disputes are concerned with unfair dismissal, red ...

s; The Business Law Reports (Bus. L.R.), started in 2007 and covering

company A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of people, whether Natural person, natural, Legal person, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common p ...

, commercial and

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...

law; and The Public and Third Sector Law Reports (P.T.S.R.), started in 2009 and covering issues such as

adoption Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting of another, usually a child, from that person's biological or legal parent or parents. Legal adoptions permanently transfer all rights and responsibilities, along with filiation, from ...

, charity,

ecclesiastical law Canon law (from grc, κανών, , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its members. It is th ...

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...

environmental law Environmental law is a collective term encompassing aspects of the law that provide protection to the environment. A related but distinct set of regulatory regimes, now strongly influenced by environmental legal principles, focus on the manage ...

, health law,

housing Housing, or more generally, living spaces, refers to the construction and assigned usage of houses or buildings individually or collectively, for the purpose of shelter. Housing ensures that members of society have a place to live, whether it ...

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...

, public health law and social welfare. It also published annual volumes of U.K. legislation from 1866 to 2010. Most of its reports were available electronically o
Westlaw
an
LexisNexis
until the beginning of 2017, when the ICLR instead published its reports exclusively on its platform.

Notes

External links

* {{Authority control Case law reporters Law-related professional associations English law Legal organisations based in London 1865 establishments in England 1865 in law