Recordings of hearings will be available to watch for one year as an educational service
The UK Supreme Court has launched an on-demand video archive of hearings on its website.
The court already provides a live stream of hearings, and has set up the new service to give lawyers, students and anyone interested in its workings the chance view how previous cases have unfolded. It also hopes it will help to reduce the costs of producing transcripts.
Footage of the proceedings will be uploaded to the website the next working day through the current cases and decided cases sections. It will be followed by footage of the justice's summary of the final judgement, which will be published alongside the full judgement text and press summary.
The footage will be available for a year after the hearing, when it will be removed to make way for new cases. The court said that, for copyright reasons, users will not be able to download the footage for storage or editing.
March 2016 review
The service will be funded by the Supreme Court until March 2016, when it will be reviewed in the light of user feedback and its other spending priorities. It said that approximately 15,000 people have used the live streaming service since it was launched in October 2014.
"Now justice can be seen to be done at a time which suits you," said Lord Neuberger, President of the Supreme Court. "The archive will help people see the background to decisions made in our highest appeal court. It will also be useful to the legal profession and serve as an informative tool for those considering a career in the law."
Pitcure: Middlesex Guildhall, home of the Supreme Court. Tom Morris, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported through Wikimedia
