UCY is joined in the CyECLI consortium by three associate partners:

the Supreme Court of Cyprus, which is the national ECLI coordinator for Cyprus and Associate Partner in this project.

the Cyprus Bar Association, a public body and the professional organization for all (over 2700) Cyprus advocates

the Cyprus Legal Information Institute (CyLII), a non-profit organization controlled by the Cyprus Bar Association, which is responsible for the operation of the open-access legal information service CyLaw.

 The University of Cyprus 

 

 

The Supreme Court of Cyprus is the supreme court of the land; it exercises appellate jurisdiction over all courts and tribunals; it also possesses original jurisdiction over certain types of civil and administrative cases. The Supreme Court is the only appellate court in a two-instance jurisdiction; it has a big case load and its judgments have precedential authority for lower courts. The Supreme Court is the primary creator of case law in Cyprus -- a mixed legal system that follows the common law tradition in many areas.

 

The Supreme Court also exercises hierarchical control over the administration of justice system. The Justices of the Supreme Court sit as the Supreme Judicial Council and are responsible for the appointment, promotion and disciplinary supervision of first-instance judges and other senior legal officers.The Supreme Courts's administrative services oversee all judicial staff in Cyprus and the publication of appellate judgments.

 

The Supreme Court is the publisher of the Cyprus Law Reports, i.e. the official collection of Cypriot judicial decisions, which includes case summaries, key words and other meta-data. This role of the Supreme Court (and its predecessors) goes back to 1883. A specialised (but not autonomous or independent) Department of Legal Publications, through which the Supreme Court acts as the national ECLI coordinator for Cyprus, forms part of the administrative services of the Court under the Chief Registrar and it is supervised by a Supreme Court registrar.

 

The Chief Registrar of the Supreme Court is the administrative head of the entire judicial service, including all court registrars in Cyprus, as well as law clerks, legal assistants and court bailiffs. The Office of the Supreme Court Registrar is in charge of judicial statistics, legal publications and implementation of administration of justice directives. Court administrative services contain several departments, including the Department of Legal Publications described below, supervised by registrars.

The Cyprus Legal Information Institute (CyLii) is a non-profit organization which is responsible for the operation of the open-access legal information service CyLaw –the primary and only non-commercial source of legal information in Cyprus on both case law and legislation. CyLaw operations are overseen and funded by the Cyprus Bar Association, which also provides administrative and logistical support. The Cyprus Bar appoints the majority of the CyLII board of directors, with the rest nominated by the Cyprus Legal Information Research Institute. None of the board members is remunerated in any way or compensated for their involvement, in any capacity, with CyLii.

 

First launched in 2002, and significantly expanded in 2011, CyLaw is the only open-access legal database in Cyprus, and the dominant source of primary legal materials (primary and secondary legislation; case law, rules of court). It is estimated that at least 80% of online legal research on Cyprus law is conducted through the CyLaw database (the percentage is much higher for research on Cyprus law conducted from overseas).CyLaw also integrates in its search facility all ECJ case law published in the Greek language.

 

CyLaw/CyLII has completed two projects. First, the consolidation of Cyprus primary legislation (i.e. statutory legislation) through a web application and publication of the legislation in fully searchable form on CyLaw. Second, the digitisation into .html of all Cyprus case law since 1883. Immediately prior to and upon the creation of the Institute, a major project involved the publication of all Supreme Court case law in fully searchable format for the period 1883-1996.

Two more projects are nearing completion: first, the publication of all secondary legislation (i.e. normative administrative acts) along with a comprehensive index; second, the publication, in consolidated form, of all Rules for all courts and jurisdictions.

 

 The Cyprus Bar Association is a national public organisation whose membership by law encompasses all Cyprus advocates. It is tasked by law with granting or revoking the annual license to practice law in Cyprus and is also responsible for disciplinary control and legal ethics standards. As the official professional organisation for Cyprus lawyers and one of the largest professional organisations island-wise, the Cyprus Bar is regularly consulted on legal matters by the executive, legislative and judicial branches. The Cyprus Bar Association is actively pursuing the continuing legal education of its members. It publishes a law journal, organises events and workshops and takes an active interest in legal information.

 

Most important for CyECLI purposes is the Association's involvement with CyLaw: the Cyprus Bar Association oversees and funds the operations of the Cyprus Legal Information Institute, which owns and runs the CyLaw open-access legal information database. The Association 's financial support was instrumental in the expansion of the CyLaw database to cover all primary legislation both in numbered and in consolidated forms. The Cyprus Bar Association also has substantive experience and a very strong interest in training programs for its members. It works together with the CyECLI management and research team, based at the University of Cyprus, to ensure the optimal effect of the training workshops planned in the program.