Abstract
The Coalition Government has prioritised 'open data' as a 'powerful tool' to 'empower citizens', with a 'transparency commitment' to publish more crime and anonymised sentencing data and the Ministry of Justice has set out an open data strategy covering both civil and criminal courts. However, legal researchers frequently encounter inaccessible or 'closed' data, when they attempt to access basic information concerning civil cases. Better-organised and more open information would help inform public debates relating to procedural and substantive civil law - the discussion around libel reform and privacy-related interim injunctions, for example. This paper will argue that a lack of public data about defamation and privacy litigation, indicated by the Impact Assessment for the Defamation Bill 2012 and the report by the Master of the Rolls' Committee on Super-Injunctions in 2011, hampers the policy-making process, public debate and academic research around these issues of public interest.
Highlights
Transparency and open data are ‘a powerful tool to help reform public services, foster innovation and empower citizens’, said the Prime Minister in an open letter to Cabinet Ministers in July 2011.1 In the same year, the Coalition Government held a consultation, ‘Making Open Data Real’,2 to explore how it might ‘best embed a culture of openness and transparency in our public services’
Civil courts have been given scant attention in the Cabinet Office consultation and the Government’s wider open data project, despite the media and political attention given to civil issues, such as litigation costs and family law
I will consider the ongoing public debate around defamation and privacy civil litigation and argue that legal researchers and other interested members of the public are confronted with
Summary
This is the published version of the paper. This version of the publication may differ from the final published version. Copyright: City Research Online aims to make research outputs of City, University of London available to a wider audience. URLs from City Research Online may be freely distributed and linked to. Reuse: Copies of full items can be used for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge. Title and full bibliographic details are credited, a hyperlink and/or URL is given for the original metadata page and the content is not changed in any way
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
