Open Data for Court Decisions: A Danger to the Rule of Law That No One Predicted

Decryption A report submitted to the Minister of Justice, Gérald Darmanin, sheds light on the potential dangers for magistrates associated with the online publication of court decisions. The initial ambition was to be transparent, but the climate of distrust toward judges is changing that. "The mass availability of these decisions carries risks," warns Christophe Soulard, the first president of the Court of Cassation, in "Le Nouvel Obs."

Christophe Soulard, First President of the Court of Cassation, July 18, 2022. JEANNE ACCORSINI/SIPA

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The wave of populism and distrust targeting the judicial institution, which "Le Nouvel Obs" put on the front page of its March 26 issue , is hitting hard one of its most gigantic and ambitious projects in the digital world. For nearly ten years, the Ministry of Justice and the Court of Cassation have been mobilized in the vast construction of "Open Data of court decisions." Its principle was born from the law for a Digital Republic in 2016; the texts provide for the gradual opening to all citizens of this extremely dense data. Already, 1,320,520 decisions are available in civil, social, and commercial matters. By the end of 2026, judgments rendered in criminal matters should also be accessible. This "Big Data" of justice, partly expurgated of its data to guarantee the anonymity of litigants, is a transparency tool, primarily designed for lawyers. Its aim is to precisely outline trends in case law and to harmonize the reasoning used by the courts.

Possible deviations highlighted in a report

Until now, warnings about the potential abuses of Open Data in the justice system had only been issued in internal meetings or documents. The warning contained in the report submitted to Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin at the end of last week goes much further. Signed by a working group led by Honorary Magistrate Daniel Ludet of the Court of Cassation, this document, which "the N…