Our mandate
Statutory mandate
The National Council for Law Reporting is established by the National Council for Law Reporting Act. The Council's mandate is to publish the Kenya Law Reports — the official reports of the decisions of the superior courts of Kenya — and to consolidate and publish the Laws of Kenya.
This platform is the digital expression of that mandate: making the complete official legal record of Kenya — the Constitution, legislation, case law, and Kenya Gazette — freely accessible to every person in Kenya and beyond, without a subscription, account, or fee for core access.
The National Council for Law Reporting Act establishes the Council's legal mandate to publish the Kenya Law Reports and consolidate the Laws of Kenya. All primary source material published on this platform is issued under that statutory authority — it is the official record, not a third-party aggregation.
Our values
What makes this a public service
A commercial legal research platform optimises for the professional user who can pay. This platform optimises differently — for the widest possible access to legal certainty, at every level of legal literacy, on every device, at every connection speed.
Universal access
Core access — searching, reading, and navigating the full legal record — is free and requires no account. Legal certainty should not be gated behind a subscription.
Always sourced
Every answer traces to a specific Act, Section, Case, or Gazette notice — verifiable, never just asserted. The primary source is always one click away.
Always current
Legal status — in force, amended, repealed, uncommenced — is shown plainly on every page, never hidden behind a filter. You should never have to guess whether a provision is still the law.
Designed for everyone
The platform is designed to serve a self-represented tenant and a Court of Appeal judge from the same underlying system — plain-language paths for citizens, precision tools for professionals.
Transparent about limits
Where legal status is contested, uncertain, or pending, the platform says so explicitly — rather than presenting false confidence. Uncertainty stated is more trustworthy than silence.
Built for the long term
Every Act, Section, Case, and Article has a permanent, stable URL — safe to cite in a court filing, a published article, or an academic paper, knowing it will still resolve in a decade.
The collection
What we publish
The platform publishes the complete official legal record of Kenya under the Council's statutory mandate:
The Constitution of Kenya, 2010 — the supreme law, browsable by chapter and Article, cross-linked to every implementing Act and interpreting case.
Acts of Parliament — every Act currently in force, alongside repealed and uncommenced legislation retained for historical research. Subsidiary legislation is grouped under its parent Act.
Case law — judgments of the superior courts, from the Supreme Court of Kenya through to subordinate courts, organised by court hierarchy, citation relationship, and authority weight.
Kenya Gazette — Gazette notices, each linked directly to the Act or provision it affects — commencement notices, amendments, appointments, and subsidiary legislation.
Bills and Hansard — Bills before Parliament and the official record of Parliamentary debates, linked to the legislation they concern.
Accessibility
Accessibility statement
Accessibility is a launch requirement, not a compliance exercise. The platform is designed from the ground up for the widest possible range of users — including those using assistive technology, those on slow or mobile connections, and those with low digital literacy.
Semantic HTML structure
Every page uses correct heading hierarchy, landmark regions, and ARIA labels so screen readers can navigate by section — including through long Acts and judgments.
Keyboard navigability
Every interactive element — search, filters, document navigation, citation panels — is fully operable by keyboard without requiring a mouse.
Colour is never the only signal
Every status indicator (in force, amended, repealed, uncommenced) uses a text label and icon alongside colour — so status is always readable for users with colour vision differences.
Mobile-first, low-bandwidth aware
The platform is designed for mobile screens and slow connections as primary scenarios. Essential content — status, holding, key facts — loads before full document text.
Plain-language layers
Every Section page and every constitutional Article page leads with a plain-language explanation clearly labelled as such, with the official text immediately below.
Reduced-motion preference respected
Animations and transitions are suppressed for users who have set a preference for reduced motion in their operating system.
This prototype targets WCAG 2.1 AA compliance. If you encounter an accessibility barrier, please contact us so it can be addressed.
Data & corrections
Data policy and corrections
All primary source material published on this platform — Acts, Sections, Cases, Gazette notices, and the Constitution — is issued under the statutory authority of the National Council for Law Reporting. It is the official record.
Where a data error is identified, the correction is documented in the relevant page's changelog alongside the date of correction. Corrections are never silent — the platform's commitment to transparency requires that any change to published legal text is visible and dated.
Plain-language explanations and synthesised content are clearly labelled as distinct from official primary text. If you identify an error in a plain-language summary, use the contact below to report it.