This summary explains the licence in clear language. The legal terms below are the binding terms.

The Open Justice Licence lets you use licensed materials for most purposes, including:

• reading, downloading, and sharing judgments
• using them in legal work, research, and journalism
• quoting and citing them in your publications
• educational and academic uses
• commercial use, such as incorporating into products or applications

You must:

• acknowledge the source when you use judgments or other content licensed under the Open Justice Licence
• use the current version of the material
• not misrepresent the content or its source
• respect the dignity of the courts and tribunals
• not jeopardise the proper administration of justice

You need additional permission (a separate licence) for computational analysis of Find Case Law judgments (including indexing by search engines)

For full details, see Using Find Case Law records and When you need permission.

Purpose of this licence

Open justice is a fundamental constitutional principle and necessary for the rule of law. The purpose of this licence is to support open justice.

Using Information under this licence

You are able to use and re–use the Information that is available under this licence freely. There are some conditions to protect the proper administration of justice.

Use of copyright and database right material made available under this licence (the 'Information') indicates your acceptance of the terms and conditions below.

The Licensor grants you a worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive licence to use the Information subject to the conditions below.

This licence does not affect your freedom under fair dealing or fair use or any other copyright or database right exceptions and limitations.

You are free to:

• copy, publish, distribute and transmit the Information
• exploit the Information commercially, for example, by combining it with other Information, or by including it in your own product or application

You must (where you do any of the above):

Use the current version of the Information (as published by the Keeper of Public Records on The National Archives website) and comply with retention periods specified by other Information Providers:

• remove from publication any documents you are using under this licence, that are subsequently no longer published by the Keeper of Public Records on The National Archives website, or have been replaced by a revised version from the Courts or Tribunals
• retain Courts and Tribunals hearings data provided under this licence for the administration of justice for a maximum of two years, subject to any further exemptions under data protection law

and in particular, but not exhaustively:

• comply with any judicial decision that restricts the use of personal data within the Information
• acknowledge the source of the Information by including the following attribution statement and, where possible, provide a link to this licence
  • Contains information licensed under the Open Justice - Licence v2.0.
• ensure that you do not use the Information in a way that suggests any official status or that the Licensor endorses you or your use of the Information;
• ensure that you (i) do not mislead others or misrepresent the Information or its source; (ii) do not present the Information in a way that does not have regard to the dignity of the Courts or Tribunals, or to their function as working bodies; and (iii) do not use the Information in any way that jeopardises the proper administration of justice;

These are important conditions of this licence and if you fail to comply with them the rights granted to you under this licence, or any similar licence granted by the Licensor, will end automatically.

Exclusions

This licence does not cover:

• computational analysis of the Information (including indexing by search engines);
• information that has neither been published nor disclosed under information access legislation (including the Freedom of Information Acts for the UK and Scotland) by or with the consent of the Licensor;
• emblems and insignia of the courts and tribunals;
• third party rights the Licensor is not authorised to license; and
• information subject to other intellectual property rights, including patents, trademarks, and design rights.

For the avoidance of doubt:

• this licence is not a data sharing agreement for personal data; and
• this licence is not a processing agreement for personal data.

Data Controllers will need to satisfy themselves that they have a legal basis and valid purpose for processing personal data.

No warranty

The Information is licensed 'as is' and the Licensor excludes all representations, warranties, obligations and liabilities in relation to the Information to the maximum extent permitted by law.

The Licensor is not liable for any errors or omissions in the Information and shall not be liable for any loss, injury or damage of any kind caused by its use.

The Licensor does not guarantee the continued supply of the Information.

Governing Law

This licence is governed by the laws of England and Wales.

Definitions

In this licence, the terms below have the following meanings:

• ‘Information’ means court judgments, tribunal decisions, proceedings, hearings data, lists, registers and information produced for the administration of justice that is protected by copyright or by database right, where use under the terms of this licence has been authorised by the Keeper of Public Records at The National Archives.
• ‘Information Provider' means a person or organisation providing the Information under this licence, other than The National Archives.
• ‘Licensor’ means (a) in relation to copyright, the Keeper of Public Records, and (b) in relation to database right, the Keeper of Public Records.
• ‘Use’ as a verb, means doing any act which is restricted by copyright or database right, whether in the original medium or in any other medium, and includes without limitation distributing, copying, adapting, modifying as may be technically necessary to use it in a different mode or format.
• ‘You' means the natural or legal person, or body of persons corporate or incorporate, acquiring rights under this licence.

About the Open Justice Licence

This is version 2.0 of the Open Justice Licence. The Licensor may, from time to time, issue new versions of the Open Justice Licence. If you are already using Information under a previous version of the Open Justice Licence, the terms of that licence will continue to apply.

The Information licensed under the Open Justice Licence includes court judgments, tribunal decisions, proceedings, hearings data, lists, registers and information produced for the administration of justice in which Crown copyright subsists.

Further context, best practice and guidance relating to the re-use of public sector information can be found in the UK Government Licensing Framework section on The National Archives website.

Go to version 1 of this licence.

Understanding this licence

This licence is designed to support open justice by making the licensed information freely available for:

Legal professionals – Use in legal practice, research, advice, and court submissions. Researchers and academics – Study, analysis, citation, and publication.

Journalists and writers – Reporting, commentary, and public interest publishing.

Students and educators – Learning, teaching, and academic work.

Public access – Anyone reading judgments or other information available under this licence to understand the law and how courts work.

Commercial use – Incorporating judgments and other licensed content into products or applications.

Why these distinctions exist

The Open Justice Licence balances:

• maximum free access – Keeping judgments and other licensed material freely available for uses that support open justice and legal understanding, including commercial applications
• appropriate control – Ensuring computational analysis is properly licensed to protect personal data and the proper administration of justice
• protecting the courts – Ensuring the Information is used in ways that respect the dignity of courts and tribunals