Why we publish judgments and decisions

Court judgments and tribunal decisions are important public records. We make them available to the public as part of open justice.

Open justice means that justice must be done and must be seen to be done. It is a core principle of our legal system and essential to the rule of law. This principle dates back to before Magna Carta.

Under the Public Records Act 1958, The National Archives permanently preserves each court judgment and tribunal decision it receives. We store these digital records in our Digital Archive. We then create copies for people to view and use, which we publish on Find Case Law.

How we publish judgments and decisions

How we receive judgments and decisions

Since 19 April 2022, courts have been able to send judgments directly to The National Archives. We preserve these permanently and publish them straight away on Find Case Law.

Clerks and judges use our Transfer Digital Records (TDR) service to send us the version of each judgment or decision that is ready for publication. If you are a judge or clerk and need information about how to transfer records, please email caselaw@nationalarchives.gov.uk.

The transfer process

We have made this process as simple as possible:

1. The clerk or judge saves the publication version of the judgment as a Microsoft Word document.
2. They log in, upload the document, and receive a reference number.
3. Judges without clerks can email the Judicial Office Helpdesk for support. The Helpdesk can also use TDR to transfer judgments on their behalf.

What the TDR service does

The service carries out several checks, including:

• scanning for viruses
• identifying the file format
• creating and confirming checksums (these are codes that verify the file has not been altered)

The service then sends the judgment to us and creates an audit trail. This trail provides a complete record of the judgment's journey from the court to The National Archives. When judgments are sent to us, nothing is changed during the process so what we receive is exactly as it was at the court.

We receive the Word document, which is the official digital record of the judgment. The clerk or judge then receives an email when we publish the judgment.

What is in judgments and decisions

We will never change the original digital record (the Word document we receive from the court).

We will never change the text of any published version. This means we do not carry out redactions.

We should only receive versions that are ready for publication. Any redactions or anonymisation needed should already have been made by the court before it sends the judgment to us.

Our checks before publication

We have a dedicated team who review every judgment and decision before we publish it.

Why we carry out these checks

We do this to:

• reduce the risk that a court or tribunal sends us a judgment in error
• make sure we have received the version the court or tribunal intended to publish
• Comply with The National Archives’ obligations as a publisher, in relation to reporting restrictions.

What we check

The initial assessment involves:

• checking whether the judgment is the approved version and has been 'released to The National Archives' for publication
• reading the start of the judgment to see if there are any restrictions on publication (such as reporting restrictions)
• checking whether any reporting restrictions have been applied consistently throughout the judgment (for example, anonymising the names of the people involved)
• making an overall assessment of whether the version we have received meets any requirements for anonymisation or redaction
• checking for obvious errors in the header (such as incorrect dates or neutral citations)
• comparing the HTML and PDF versions against the original Word document to check for formatting errors

What happens next

After checking, we will either:

• publish the judgment, or
• ask the court for clarification or confirmation

The judge has the final say on whether a judgment is suitable for publication. We will always publish a judgment once the clerk or judge confirms it is ready.

How long publication takes

Once we have reviewed a judgment, we publish it straight away on Find Case Law. We do this as quickly as we can.

It may take us longer to review and publish judgments and decisions that:

• are unusually long
• contain reporting restrictions
• are received after 5pm (which will be reviewed the next working morning)

Sometimes we need to check with the court or tribunal whether the version we received is the one they meant to publish. In these cases, publication may take longer while we wait for confirmation or for the correct version.

Our review process makes it less likely that we will publish a judgment with an error. If you think there is an error in a published judgment, you can contact us. If needed, we will refer it back to the court to decide what to do.

We know that quick publication matters to many of our users. It is very unusual for judgments or decisions to take longer than two working days to review and publish. If it has been more than two working days, it is likely that we have not received the judgment from the court or tribunal.

We take a risk-based approach to our checks. This helps us balance speed of publication with thoroughness. We will keep developing this process based on our experience and feedback. We report on how this process is working to the Ministry of Justice, His Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service, and the Judiciary.

How we format judgments and decisions

Find Case Law lets users access judgments and decisions in different formats. We choose these formats based on what works best for different uses:

The copies we create keep the styling and formatting from the original document. This means we can show the judgment on the website in a way that closely matches the original.

How we convert judgments

We convert each judgment from a Microsoft Word document into XML (a legal document mark-up language) and a PDF file. We use this XML to create the HTML version.

We make the HTML version as accessible as possible by:

• standardise indentation of paragraphs
• standardise fonts and font size
• convert images to a format that a web browser can properly display
• adjusting tables so they work well on different screen sizes
• add hyperlinks.

Links to legislation will take you to the current version of the law. If you need to see the law as it was on a particular date, use the 'point in time' feature on legislation.gov.uk.

Personal data in judgments and decisions

See our Privacy notice for full details on what personal data we process and publish in judgments and decisions, and why we do this.

The facts of a case described in a judgment or tribunal decision may sometimes include distressing content. This is particularly true in criminal cases or cases involving children.

When we publish

We understand that quick publication matters to our users. We publish most judgments within two working days of receiving them.

If a judgment has not appeared on the service two working days after it was handed down in public, we probably have not received it.

Judgments with reporting restrictions may take longer because of the checks we need to carry out and any clarification we may need from the court.

We measure how long it takes from receiving a judgment to publishing it. We report on these results, including the reasons for any delays.

If you think a judgment is missing from the service and it has been more than two working days since it was handed down, please contact us.

How we manage published judgments and decisions

Versions and revisions

Over time, we may receive several versions of the same judgment from the court. We keep the digital record of each version, but we only publish the latest version the court has approved.

If the court needs to make changes, corrections, or refinements to a published judgment, it must send us a new version through the Transfer Digital Records service.

Removing judgments from publication

The National Archives usual take down and reclosure policy does not apply to judgments or decisions on Find Case Law.

Once we have published a judgment or decision, we will only remove it if the court or tribunal tells us to.

If you think a judgment or decision should not be publicly available, please contact the court or tribunal directly.