Mobile Access to the Law in Africa: Developing an eGrey Book for the Seychelles

A novel access to legislation project in the African island nation of Seychelles focused on producing a multi-format unofficial electronic collection of the most commonly cited laws, which can be used online or offline.  People in Seychelles did not previously have ready access to current versions of their most important laws (including the Constitution and the civil and criminal codes), even in hard copy.  The ‘eGrey Book’ project, launched in April 2014 through the website of SeyLII, has so far been a remarkable success.  The history of the project exemplifies the possibility of lateral approaches to access to legislation challenges, the importance of close cooperation with LII colleagues and international technical experts, and the invaluable contribution that a targeted one-off funding injection can make.  It also reflects the  significant time commitment required to create the raw materials for a resource of this kind. Now that the hard work has been done, the eGrey Book requires relatively little effort to maintain and update.   It has already become the default reference point for local practitioners.  With time, it may offer a model for replication in other African jurisdictions facing similar challenges.