LII

LII, short for Legal Information Institute, is a nonprofit online library that provides free, publicly accessible legal information. Based at Cornell Law School, it was launched in 1992 to make the law freely available and usable by people without legal training. The institute publishes and hosts a broad collection of primary legal materials, including texts of the U.S. Constitution, federal and state statutes, regulations, court opinions, and related documents. It also provides international and comparative materials where available, and offers search tools and bibliographic features to help users locate relevant authorities. In addition to primary texts, LII maintains Wex, a collaborative legal encyclopedia that explains legal terms and concepts in plain language.

LII aims to present authoritative versions of texts and to provide context for understanding the law, with regularly updated content and clear sourcing to official authorities. It operates as a free, noncommercial resource, supported by Cornell University, foundations, and individual donors, and governed by a board and editorial staff. The site is widely used by students, researchers, journalists, legal professionals, and the general public as a first-stop reference for U.S. and, to a lesser extent, international legal materials. While it does not replace official government portals, LII’s user-friendly presentation and free access have made it a notable component of the open-access movement in legal information.