Court of Appeal judges have called for a greater availability of email and information technology to disseminate judgments to lawyers and judges.

Issuing a ruling on the Internet for the first time, Lord Justice Saville criticised the lack of information technology available to the judiciary.

Lords Justices Waller, Saville and Brooke put the decision of Bannister v SGB plc & ors on the Lord Chancellors Department Web site on 25 April.

Lord Justice Saville said: "If this country was in the same position as Australia, where the administration of the law is benefiting greatly from the pioneering enterprise of the Australasian Legal Information Institute, we would have been able to make this judgement immediately available in an electronic form to every judge and practitioner in the UK."