The mission of the database of knowledge "IURA. Sources of ancient law" is to provide its users with data from various types of historical sources related to the phenomenon of law in the past as part of cultural heritage (legal heritage).

So far, the IURA database includes nearly 3,000 digital objects - which are critical editions of legal and historical sources. The sources it publishes are mainly related to the Polish statehood from the beginning of its existence, however, special collections covering legal sources from the past concerning other countries are also being launched (cf. the collection Translations of Sources into English, containing, among other things, translations of selected legal acts of the interwar period of the Visegrad Group countries). Currently, the service contains more than a dozen continuously expanded and extended thematic collections, ranging from medieval law to case law and legislation of the first post-war years, making it the only database of its kind in Poland.

IURA's task is not only to publish critical editions of past legal sources, but also to provide tools that allow the user to easily search for content-related information from different types of sources. An advanced content and metadata search engine is used for this purpose. Whenever possible and in cognitively justified cases, not only critical editions, but also photographs of sources are included to provide editing control. In addition, the first analytical tool has been introduced making IURA more than just a data repository. At the same time, up to 10 texts can be automatically compared using the collatex tool. It allows you to study the evolution of a legal text and search for borrowings and thus track the spread of legal solutions.IURA jest bazą dostępną w formule open access, korzystanie z jej zasobów nie wymaga rejestracji i logowania. Jej adresatem są naukowcy, studenci, nauczyciele, uczniowie. Zasoby IURA wykorzystywane są zarówno w badaniach jak i w dydaktyce akademickiej, jak choćby w zakresie przedmiotów prawno-historycznych. 

The project is being carried out at the Source Publications Laboratory of the Faculty of Law and Administration of the Jagiellonian University. The project team includes people employed in other units of the Faculty, including the Faculty Law Library and the Department of the History of Polish Law. Work is currently underway to further expand the resources of the database through the expansion of, among other things, the collections of ancient urban and rural law, the law of the Republic of Cracow, and legal sources of the interwar and postwar periods from the WBP's own collections.