A judicial website

Change in the Scottish judiciary following the re-establishment of the Scottish Courts Service under the headship of the Lord President was confirmed by the launch of their website on 20 September 2010.

The site is clearly informed by at least two things: the need for transparency in the age of freedom of information, and a desire to correct, as far as possible, public misperceptions of the judiciary and in particular the rationales and policies which underlie sentencing in criminal cases.

Scots Law News shares a general sense that this website is a Good Thing and a mark of progress in relations between the Scottish legal system and the rest of the world outside.  The test will be how well and regularly the site is maintained.  As the Scottish Courts website now illustrates all too well, a good start is good only for a very short time, and you have to move with your audience as it grows both more demanding and more sophisticated in the art of the possible.  But resources, ever more significant in the era of public austerity now upon us, will decide all in the end.