Courts and Tribunals
British Courts and Tribunals
Scottish Courts Service
The site covers all the traditional courts, providing rules of court, all Court of Session decisions since about 1997, selected decisions from other courts, court forms, fee information, rolls of the Court of Session as well as links to other Scottish courts.
Search for Supreme Court decisions by name, date, type etc:
www.scotcourts.gov.uk/opinionsApp/supreme.asp
Search for Sheriff Court decisions in the same way:
www.scotcourts.gov.uk/opinionsApp/sheriff.asp
and see the Sheriff Court and Court of Session rules at:
www.scotcourts.gov.uk/library/rules/index.asp
Judiciary of Scotland
The Scottish judiciary finally has its own website which lists all judges and sheriffs presently in office, some fairly basic information about how the courts work, principles of judicial ethics and independence and the practicalities of going to a court. See the Judicial Appointments Board for Scotland site to find out how the judiciary are appointed:
www.judicialappointmentsscotland.org.uk
Additional Support Needs Tribunal for Scotland
This tribunal has a bright and attractive well-ordered site with a clear and well-referenced section setting out the law and lots of useful information about Tribunal administration etc. Contains a searchable database of tribunal decisions, which have been effectively anonymised.
Children’s Hearings
This newly, and now appropriately, named site is a Scottish Executive sponsored site dealing with all aspects of the Scottish system of Children’s Hearings which aim to safeguard the needs of vulnerable children.
Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland
www.mhtscotland.gov.uk/mhts/Home/Welcome_to_the_Mental_Health_Tribunal
Although the form and structure of the site remains, the content is now up to date and more useful. Contains database of decisions made since 2008, but with only the barest of details provided and no text of reasons. For the English equivalent, go to www.mhrt.org.uk.
Pensions Appeal Tribunal (Scotland)
www.patscotland.org.ukThe website deals with the Scottish version of the Pensions Appeal Tribunal, which is separate from the English and Welsh tribunal. There is little of interest in this very basic site except a comprehensive medical glossary.
Private Rented Housing Panel
The website for the latest new tribunal in Scotland (subsuming the former Rent Assessment Panel for Scotland) is bright and well-designed, containing detailed information for tenants and landlords on the new law and procedures (though not links to the legislation or Rules for some reason). It has an excellent searchable database of all decisions made on all topics.
Scottish Solicitors’ Discipline Tribunal
Refreshingly open, well-organised and full site which gives full access to the tribunal findings, the rules, tribunal member biographies and FAQs.
Copyright Tribunal
Simple site attached to main government site on IP: contains decisions of the tribunal from 1990 to 2003 and annual reports
County Court
The Registry Trust Ltd (under the trading name Trust Online) operates the Registry of County Court judgments for England and Wales and has a database of Scottish small claims and summary cause decrees for the past six years; and equivalent judgments in the courts of Northern Ireland, Isle of Man, and Jersey. Fee charged for search which can be done on-line or by post.
Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service
Following integration of courts and tribunals in England, all websites have changed. This is the site for the Service which incorporates well-ordered links to its constituent parts being most English Courts, English Tribunals and UK Tribunals (both First Tier and Upper Tier). For case law, see sites for the court or tribunal concerned or www.bailii.org.
House of Lords
www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld/ldjudgmt.htm
Following the abolition of the House of Lords and its replacement by the Supreme Court, all judgements of the House of Lords from November 1996 to July 2009 are archived here; with a basic search function.
Privy Council
Following the constitutional shake-up associated with the creation of the Supreme Court, the amended function of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council is reflected in a new website, similar in style and content to that of the Supreme Court. Judgements prior to August 2009 are archived at www.privy-council.org.uk/output/Page31.asp
Supreme Court
The House of Lord’s replacement Court now boasts a supremely better website to that of its predecessor; providing not only the text of judgements but also a list of current cases, with pithy summaries and access to further details, press releases, Rules of Court, practice directions and a variety of interesting background material. Decisions of the Supreme Court are found here in a very accessible, up-to-date and searchable fashion.
Industrial Tribunals and the Fair Employment Tribunal
www.employmenttribunalsni.co.uk
Not to be confused with the GB equivalent, this site provides a welter of useful information and links to the Northern Ireland employment tribunal equivalent.
Non-British Courts and tribunals
European Court of Human Rights
http://cmiskp.echr.coe.int/tkp197/search.asp?skin=hudoc-en
A huge collection of every decision of the Court and the Commission; searchable in many ways and in French as well as English.
European Court of Justice
http://curia.europa.eu/jcms/jcms/j_6/
Lots of information about the workings of the court, access to the caselaw in English and French, and a digest and Index of the caselaw (in French).
Gunnar Anzinger
www.gksoft.com/govt/en/courts.html
One, very long, page providing the web address for hundreds of courts throughout the world, from Algeria to the Virgin Islands.
International Court of Justice
Full text of every decision of the Court since its inception and copies of all core texts.
International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea
Nicely designed site with all that one could want to know about the tribunal.