The establishment of the National Legal Documentation and Information Network (JDIHN), historically was one of the recommendations of national legal development activities, namely the National Legal Seminar III in 1974 in Surabaya which was organized by the Legal Development Agency. The results of the seminar assessed that legal documentation for national legal development is still very weak because it has not been able to provide legal documents and information as well as a retrieval system quickly and precisely when needed.

Other results from the National Law Seminar III in 1974, it was found that factors causing weak legal documentation support include:

1. Potential legal documents, widely distributed in government agencies from the center to regions with very large island territories;
2. Not all of these legal documents are managed well in a system;
3. There are very few management staff;
4. Lack of attention to the existence of legal documentation and libraries.

Seminars also recommend:

1. Forming cooperation between legal document management units in a legal documentation and information network
2. There is a need for a national policy to start developing a network system for legal documentation and information so that it can function immediately.
3. In the initial stage there are two things that need to be done:
   1. makes it easier to search and retrieve legislative regulations, jurisprudence and other materials
   2. In order to quickly utilize all existing information, the Legal Documentation and Information Network System needs to be prepared and developed. Determine the Center and Network Members and provide the necessary facilities to start functioning.

In 1978 a Workshop was held on "Organization and Communication of Legal Documentation and Information Network Systems" in Jakarta, one of the results of which was the appointment of BPHN as the Network Center and was given the task of organizing training for personnel development, a place for consultation, research and development of network systems, as well as coordinating the activities of network units in the context of network development.

In order to carry out its duties as the JDIH Center, in 1988 BPHN issued guidelines for managing legal documents called "Legal Documentation and Information Network Unit Manual" which consists of V modules, namely:

1. Module I: Guidelines for Work Procedures for the Center for Legal Documentation and Information Network.
2. Module II: Guidelines for Gathering Materials (Pre-cataloging Activities).
3. Module III: Processing Guidelines Sub-Module IIIA: Technical Guidelines for Cataloging Library Materials and Postcataloging (based on UDC); Sub-Module IIIB: Technical Guidelines for Cataloging Legislation; Sub-Module IIIC: Technical Guidelines for Cataloging Library Materials and Postcataloging (based on DDC).
4. Module IV: Information Service Guidelines;
5. Module V: Work Facilities for the Legal Documentation and Information Network Unit

In 1999, a National Policy regarding the implementation of JDIHN was published, namely Presidential Decree Number 91 of 1999 concerning the National Legal Documentation and Information Network in State Gazette No. 135. Then, in an effort to ensure the creation of unified and integrated Legal Documentation and Information Management, the Presidential Decree was revitalized and replaced with Presidential Regulation Number 33 of 2012 concerning the National Legal Documentation and Information Network, one of whose tasks is to provide guidance, development and monitoring of JDIHN members consisting of:

1. The Legal Bureau and/or work unit whose duties and functions are carrying out activities related to legal documents on:
   1. Ministry of State;
   2. Secretariat of State Institutions;
   3. Non-Ministerial Government Institutions;
   4. Provincial Government;
   5. Regency/City Government; and
   6. Secretariat of the Regional People's Representative Council at Provincial and Regency/City Level.
2. Libraries at state universities and private universities;
3. Other institutions engaged in the development of legal documentation and information as determined by the Minister.

In addition, the mandate in Presidential Regulation Number 33 of 2012 confirms that the objectives of JDIHN are:

1. ensure the creation of unified and integrated Legal Documentation and Information Management in various government agencies and other institutions;
2. ensure the availability of complete and accurate documentation and legal information, which can be accessed quickly and easily;
3. develop effective cooperation between the network center and network members as well as between fellow network members in the context of providing documentation and legal information; and
4. improve the quality of national legal development and services to the public as a form of good, transparent, effective, efficient and responsible governance.

To adapt to developments in science and technology, the Legal Documentation and Information Network Unit Manual has also been revised and developed by the JDIHN Center and made into an inseparable attachment to Regulation of the Minister of Law and Human Rights Number 02 of 2013 concerning Standardization of Technical Management of Documentation and Legal Information, which was subsequently revoked by Regulation of the Minister of Law and Human Rights Number 8 of 2019 concerning Standards for Management of Legal Documents and Information, this is intended as a guideline that must be used by JDIHN Members. Legal Document and Information Management Standards include:

1. Standards for Preparing Abstracts of Legislative Regulations;
2. Legal Document and Information Processing Standards;
3. Standard Evaluation Report on National Legal Documentation and Information Network Management

The history of the formation of JDIHN above shows how important cooperation is in managing legal documents and information to accelerate the development of quality national law. Therefore, to build integrated access to legal information, nationally all JDIHN Members are required to manage legal documents and information within their authority using existing modules/standards and increasing acceleration by utilizing advanced information and communication technology.