Open data of the justice system in France

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Overview

Open data in the justice system involves making the decisions of French courts available to the public in a digital format that is free, freely accessible, and reusable, after personal data has been anonymized.

This policy has several objectives:

  • improve transparency in the justice system; ;
  • promote equal access to justice; ;
  • to advance legal research; ;
  • enable the creation of new digital services; ;
  • encourage innovation, particularly through artificial intelligence.

Open data does not apply to case files or documents submitted by the parties. Only court decisions that have been made public are made available.

Legal Basis

The disclosure of court decisions is based primarily on:

  • Law No. 2016-1321 of October 7, 2016, on the Digital Republic; ;
  • Articles L.111-13 through L.111-14 of the Code of Judicial Organization; ;
  • Articles R.111-10 through R.111-13 of the Code of Judicial Organization; ;
  • Decree No. 2020-797 of June 29, 2020, concerning the public availability of decisions by judicial and administrative courts.

Decisions are published after being anonymized to protect privacy and prevent the re-identification of individuals.

The relevant courts

The reopening is taking place in phases and includes, in particular:

  • the Court of Cassation; ;
  • the courts of appeals; ;
  • the courts; ;
  • labor courts; ;
  • commercial courts; ;
  • the administrative courts (Council of State, administrative courts of appeal, and administrative tribunals).

Not all decisions are available immediately. They are published gradually, depending on the jurisdiction and the type of case.

The Main Platforms

Judilibre

Developed by the Court of Cassation, Judilibre is now the leading public database of French court decisions.

In particular, it allows you to:

  • free access to decisions; ;
  • keyword searches; ;
  • searches by jurisdiction; ;
  • searches by date; ;
  • searches by appeal number; ;
  • API access for developers.

Open Data from the Council of State

The Council of State publishes the decisions of the administrative courts.

The decisions are freely available for viewing and may also be reused in accordance with the applicable public licenses.

Légifrance

Légifrance brings together:

  • the codes; ;
  • the laws; ;
  • the regulations; ;
  • a substantial selection of case law; ;
  • collective bargaining agreements; ;
  • ministerial responses.

It is often the easiest way to get started for both professionals and individuals.

Available APIs

There are several public APIs that allow you to use this data:

  • Judilibre API; ;
  • Légifrance API; ;
  • API PISTE; ;
  • API of the Council of State.

These interfaces make it possible to create applications capable of automatically searching for court decisions or performing legal analyses.

Applications of Artificial Intelligence

Open data now makes it possible to develop:

  • advanced legal search engines; ;
  • text-generation systems; ;
  • tools for literature review; ;
  • assistants for legal professionals; ;
  • systems to assist individuals involved in the legal process with orientation; ;
  • dispute classification models; ;
  • statistical tools.

However, Article L.111-13 of the Code of Judicial Organization prohibits the reuse of data that could be used to evaluate, analyze, compare, or predict the actual or presumed professional practices of judges, court clerks, and members of the courts.

Interest in Mediators

Open data is a particularly useful source of information for:

  • identify the solutions adopted by the courts; ;
  • be familiar with trends in case law; ;
  • assess the risks of a legal dispute; ;
  • explain to the parties the possible consequences of legal proceedings; ;
  • to facilitate the search for a realistic, amicable solution.

However, it never replaces a legal analysis of a case or the courts’ independent judgment.

Interest in Votre-Litige.fr

Open data can enhance a guidance tool like Votre-Litige.fr by, among other things, enabling:

  • to identify the decisions relevant to the dispute under review; ;
  • to provide relevant case law; ;
  • to display the applicable texts; ;
  • to measure average processing times when such data is available; ;
  • to improve the responses provided by artificial intelligence using a RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) system connected to official databases.

This approach makes it possible to provide more comprehensive legal information while maintaining human oversight of the final analysis.

Conclusion

Open data in the justice system represents a major development in access to justice in France. By making a growing volume of court decisions available free of charge, it promotes transparency, the dissemination of case law, and the development of innovative tools based on artificial intelligence. However, its use must comply with anonymization rules, the limits set by the Code of Judicial Organization, and the ethical principles applicable to the legal professions.

Key reference documents:

  • Law No. 2016-1321 of October 7, 2016, on the Digital Republic.
  • Articles Sections L.111-13 through L.111-14 and R.111-10 through R.111-13 of the Code of Judicial Organization.
  • Decree No. 2020-797 of June 29, 2020, regarding the public availability of court decisions.