Open justice and engagement

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"The principle of open justice helps to maintain public confidence in our judicial system by allowing the public to see that the judges who administer justice do so diligently and in accordance with the demands of the judicial oath. Ideally, it allows the public a deeper understanding of the issues and tensions that judges must confront and resolve when making decisions about bail and in sentencing."

CHIEF JUSTICE HELEN WINKELMANN TO THE LAW ASSOCIATION, JULY 2024.

The principle of open justice

A fundamental principle of the common law is that the administration of justice must take place in open court. This principle underpins the public’s right to attend court hearings, the media’s right to report proceedings, and access rights to court documents (subject to some specific statutory exceptions). It is not open to the parties to agree to private hearings, to the sealing of the court file, or to the suppression of the judgment.

The requirement that justice be administered in a manner that renders it open to public scrutiny is the surest means of holding judges and courts to the ideal of a fair hearing. In this way, the principle of open justice maintains public confidence in the justice system.

Open justice initiatives aim to make accurate information about the courts and their decisions readily available to the media and the public. This access is critical to public confidence in the judiciary. Some initiatives that support open justice have the potential to enable access to justice by allowing people who are interested in proceedings, but unable to attend in person, to view them.

A work programme to support open justice

Two judicial committees are responsible for overseeing the work that supports the principle of open justice.

Media and Courts committee
The Media and Courts Committee is an advisory group comprised of judges, senior news leaders, senior Māori media representatives and senior registry staff. The Committee is a forum where media organisations and the judiciary can discuss topics of common concern, identify issues impacting the accurate and timely reporting of the work of the courts, and facilitate understanding between the two institutions.

The District Court Media Committee acts as a sub-committee to the Media and Courts Committee and meets twice a year. The meeting is an opportunity for the District Court judiciary to hear from court reporters and other working journalists to discuss key areas creating difficulty or confusion. The meeting is also attended by Ministry of Justice representatives as many of the action items are assigned to court staff rather than judges.

Concerns identified by these committees are often passed to Huakina kia Tika, for solutions.

Huakina Kia Tika | Open Justice committee
The Huakina kia Tika | Open Justice Committee is a cross-bench committee which applies an open justice lens to the work of all courts, identifying and promoting practical steps that can be taken to preserve and promote transparency and access. The Committee was established at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic when, for the first time, the public was prevented from attending court hearings and when many hearings took place remotely.

The Committee’s responsibilities have evolved to include overseeing and promoting initiatives to improve public and media access to the courts and public understanding of the courts and their constitutional role. It also provides a judicial perspective on issues relating to access to court records.

Work on publishing the judgments of all courts on one site, Judicial Decisions Online (JDO), continues. Holding all decisions in one place will make them easier to find and improve access to justice. The Committee is supervising the Ministry of Justice’s project to achieve this. In addition to the decisions of the Supreme Court, Court of Appeal and High Court, the decisions of the Māori Appellate Court, Māori Land Court and Environment Court are now available through JDO. Before the end of 2025 it is expected that decisions from the Employment, Coroners, Family and Youth Courts will be available on JDO.

The Committee is reviewing whether the open justice principles underpinning judgment publication and transparency initiatives remain fit for purpose in an AI-powered online environment. The Committee also supervised the Supreme Court transparency initiatives outlined below.

Improving the transparency of judicial administration and court business
This is the fourth year in which the Chief Justice has published an Annual Report to share judicial progress in which she explains issues that exist for the operation of the courts, and initiatives the judiciary are leading to better serve the community.

The Chief Justice as the principal spokesperson for the judiciary regularly speaks on issues relating to the courts, and on the judicial branch of government. The Chief Justice's speeches are published on the Courts of New Zealand website.

Social media presence
Courts of New Zealand uses two social media platforms – LinkedIn and X. In particular, the social media platforms support the courts’ judgment publishing practice. Judgments of public interest that are published on the Courts of New Zealand website are announced on X. All Supreme Court judgments are announced on LinkedIn. The Courts have used Twitter/X since 2015.

Through LinkedIn, the Courts of New Zealand engage with members of the legal profession, academia and the public service, sharing judicial news, events and appointments.

Publication of bench books on Courts of New Zealand website
Te Kura Kaiwhakawā | Institute of Judicial Studies develops and maintains a suite of online resources for the judiciary called bench books – 12 in total (see Part 1) – for judges’ use in their day-to-day work on the bench. As part of increasing transparency into court processes, Te Kura published the Criminal Jury Trials Bench Book on the Courts of New Zealand website in November.[56] Te Puna Manawa Whenua | the Māori Land Court Bench Book and Kia Mana te Tangata | Judging in Context: A Handbook are anticipated in 2025.

Supreme Court outreach and transparency initiatives
The principles expressed in Supreme Court decisions are binding on all courts in New Zealand and have an impact far beyond the parties directly involved in the cases it hears. Therefore, it is important that the work of the Supreme Court is readily available and accessible. There are a number of initiatives in place to increase accessibility:

Providing supporting information about upcoming cases, and about judgments delivered: To improve public understanding of the work of the Supreme Court, a case synopsis is prepared for each case the court hears. In addition, each judgment issued by the Court is accompanied by an explanatory media release. Both case synopses and media releases are published on the Courts of New Zealand website and shared via social media.
Live streaming of hearings: Increasingly, hearings of the Supreme Court are livestreamed with a link made available through the Courts of New Zealand website. Hearings that feature suppressed information are not livestreamed.
Publication of recorded livestreamed hearings on Courts of New Zealand website: Livestreamed hearings are recorded and published on the Courts of New Zealand website after the hearing has concluded.[57] This gives educational institutions, members of the legal profession and members of the public the ability to view the hearing at any time.
Publication of substantive appeal submissions online: The written submissions of counsel for appeal hearings are now published on the Courts of New Zealand website a day before the hearing begins, with limited exceptions. Publishing these documents supports law schools with the teaching of law, advocacy, and procedure.
Embargo judgment process: The court provides judgments under embargo in cases of high public interest. In this situation, the judgment is provided in advance of its formal delivery to counsel, parties, and media (and, sometimes, others).
Supreme Court sitting outside of Wellington: The Court has adopted a practice of having sitting weeks in Auckland and Christchurch every year. Holding hearings outside Wellington enables interested members of the public, the profession, academics and law students to see the court in action.
Supreme Court complex tours: The tours programme at the Supreme Court complex was refreshed in 2024, with a focus on engaging with schools and their students, and aligning tour content with curriculum content for intermediate and secondary schools. Students recreate a trial in the Old High Court, using resources derived from historic cases that have been tried there. Visitors to the complex learn about New Zealand’s court system, the constitutional role of the courts, the Supreme Court as the apex court of New Zealand, and some of the history of the building.

Engagement with law schools
On its away sittings, the Court hosted a question-and-answer session between the judges of the Supreme Court and counsel appearing, and academics and students from local law schools. For preparation for the event, the Court recorded a video introduction to the hearing, outlining the cases that would be advanced by counsel, and provided this in advance to law schools.

Publication of briefing to incoming Attorney-General
In March 2024, with the agreement of the Attorney-General, the Chief Justice publicly released the memorandum she provided to the incoming Attorney-General following the 2023 general election. This document covers topics such as promoting access to justice, strengthening the rule of law through efficient and effective courts and ensuring a well- functioning judiciary. The memorandum was published on the Courts of New Zealand website. See Memorandum to incoming Attorney-General (2023).

Wellington Heritage Festival: Opening the doors of the Old High Court
More than 140 visitors, including families, school groups and a local Cubs group, were welcomed through the Old High Court in Wellington on a Wednesday evening in November as part of the city’s Heritage Festival. Guests learnt about past Chief Justices, the history of the building and previous cases heard in the Old High Court, including how sentencing has changed over time.

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Footnotes

[56] The Criminal Jury Trials Bench Book can be found on the Courts of New Zealand website: https://www.courtsofnz.govt.nz/publications/bench-books

[57] Livestreamed hearings can be found on the Courts of New Zealand website: https://www.courtsofnz.govt.nz/streaming