Open Data in the Judicial Field: Past, Present and Future

One of the pioneering areas in the reuse of information from the public sector has been that of judicial information. Even before the irruption of information and communication technologies, professionals in this field were already proficient in consulting jurisprudential repertoires published by private entities.

Thus it became common to see cinematographic images in which the volumes of renowned legal publishers were part of the visual environment where the plots of “lawyer” TV shows and films developed.

This reality had its own influence at the regulatory and jurisprudential level, becoming one of the most important issues regarding the reuse of public sector information. Under Law 37/2007, of November 16, on the Reuse of Public Sector Information, the General Council of the Judiciary approved a Regulation on the reuse of judgments and other court decisions in 2010. Only a few months later, the Supreme Court, by means of a judgment issued on October 28, 2011, annulled said Regulation and since then has yet to reestablish an alternative specific framework. Beyond the controversies and discussions that this judicial statement raised –with the individual vote of several magistrates– and the underlying reasons on which it is based, the truth is that it is a clear example of the underlying complexity of this material scope that, as it could not be otherwise, is projected on the possibilities of reusing information in accordance with the parameters of open data.   

Thus, on the one hand, there is a plurality of actors involved, which ultimately makes it difficult to provide advanced services because the availability of the data depends on multiple sources managed in different ways and by different subjects: judges and magistrates, the respective judicial government bodies at various territorial and jurisdictional levels, the Ministry of Justice and the Autonomous Communities competent in the area of Administration of Justice with regard to the management of human and material resources, prosecution, lawyers… On the other hand, despite efforts made in recent years, the widespread use of electronic means, both in procedural management as well as in relationships with stakeholders and professionals, is still at an early stage that ultimately makes it difficult to access the associated information in accordance with the demands of open data. 

Access to judicial resolutions

In any case, it should be remembered that free access to the complete text of judicial resolutions through electronic means has been a reality for several years thanks to the strong push made by the Judicial Branch through the Judicial Documentation Center-CENDOJ, in which thanks to a powerful search engine, the decisions of the main judicial bodies can be freely accessed. Although, as reported in the conditions of use of this service, access to such documents through this channel is only allowed for private use, as using it for commercial purposes is expressly prohibited as well as the massive download of resolutions. As such, reuse for commercial purposes requires prior authorization from the aforementioned CENDOJ, according to the conditions established by the General Council of the Judiciary.

Beyond conceptual disquisitions regarding the denomination to be used, the truth is that Open Government in the judicial field is a growing demand at a social level that is beginning to materialize in very prominent examples and is reflected in the effort that is being made in important research projects –both in the national and international context– and has also been the subject of debate in academic forums. From the field of concrete initiatives, one of the main commitments of the Strategic Agenda 2015/2020 of the Superior Court of Justice of the Region of Murcia is, precisely, the impulse of open data within the axis towards Open Justice. For its part, the Transparency Portal of the Judicial Branch is also strongly pushing to facilitate access to relevant information that, for our purposes, has a complete database that is free to access that makes it possible to obtain accurate information regarding the activity of each judicial body, which can even be downloaded in open formats. In addition, as far as open data is concerned, some Autonomous Communities provide automated access to data related to judicial districts or government departments that, in addition, can also be viewed through geolocation systems.

In short, the push for accessibility to judicial information based on open data approaches and, specifically, the way in which standards are applied by judicial bodies, constitutes not only an opportunity for innovation in the provision of new advanced services, but is also presented as a tool at the service of legal security and fundamental rights. Moreover, taking into account the possibilities offered by artificial intelligence, big data and, in general, the tools available for the advanced analysis of information, it does not seem that the predictability of the decisions made by judicial bodies is a mere theoretical hypothesis but that it could actually become a reality even in the short term.