The National Archives (TNA) has announced plans for new a website with details of important court and tribunal judgements.
It will pull together information from a number of other existing sites, the largest of which is BAILII run by the British and Irish Legal Information Institute, as part of a long term migration project.
The move responds to recommendations made by The Legal Education Foundation in its Digital Justice Report and a commitment by the Ministry of Justice to standardise its approach to the publication of judgments.
TNA said the new site will host thousands of court judgments, saving time and money for lawyers, judges, academics, journalists, students and members of the public who require them for vital case preparation or research purposes.
It added that it was chosen due to its expertise in storing and publishing information securely as official publisher for the UK Government.
As an early step, judicial review rulings, European case law, commercial judgements and other cases of legal significance from the High Court, Upper Tier Tribunal and the Court of Appeal will be made available on the website from April 2022.
Need for accessibility
The Lord Chancellor, Robert Buckland QC MP, said: “Ensuring court judgments are easily accessible is central to the rule of law and the principle of open justice.
“Having used BAILII myself as a criminal barrister, I am extremely grateful for the work they have done over the years to make judgments available to the public.
“This new service will ensure they remain accessible to anyone who needs them, under safe and secure arrangements with The National Archives.”
Image from gov.uk under Open Government Licence v3.0
