Selected District Court decisions to be published online

Select judicial decisions from the District Courts are now being published on a new website run by the Office of the Chief District Court Judge.

The website is www.districtcourts.govt.nz.

Chief District Court Judge Jan-Marie Doogue said "a Publications Unit working under an editorial board of senior judges, will select for online publication those decisions considered of high public or legal interest and which meet criteria for publication. This calendar year, the website expects to publish about 2500 decisions, rising to about 4000 next year."

Judge Doogue said “The information will serve the profession and legal community as well as the general public, by providing access to accurate, complete information about significant cases without the need to navigate individual court registries.”

Judge Doogue's press release outlined selection criteria for what decisions would be published, including the following:

• Criteria for publication in the criminal jurisdiction include sentencing notes and reserved decisions from judge-alone trials in cases of more serious offending, or cases where there has been discussion of high-level principles.
• In the Family Court, selection criteria differ depending on the legislation that proceedings are brought under.
• For Youth Court, while criteria of public or legal interest will apply, there will also be emphasis on points of law on which there is little or no previous authority.
• All decisions resulting from proceedings brought under the Harmful Digital Communications Act 2015 will be published automatically because this is a requirement of that legislation.

Where there are statutory reporting prohibitions or suppression orders, such as in some Youth Court and Family Court proceedings, the website uses different names or initials and removes all identifying information.