Thousands of judicial decisions will be published by New Zealand’s District Courts on a new website launched by the
Ministry of Justice.
The select group to be published will be available through
districtcourts.govt.nz which is managed by the Office of the Chief District Court Judge, a
Sun Live report said. The project was completed on time and under budget.
Chief District Court Judge Jan-Marie Doogue said that a Publication Unit who will be overseen by an editorial board of senior judges will select and publish decisions that are of high public or legal interest.
Sun Live notes that approximately 200,000 criminal, family, youth and civil cases a year are processed by 160 judges through the District Courts. About 25,000 decisions are made each year.
The report said that a considerable fraction of those decisions – about 4,000 – are expected to be published yearly. For the rest of 2016, about 2,500 decisions are expected to be published on the site.
“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,” said.
