Judge keen to limit private court cases

Published on 06/03/2013 00:00

THE UK’S most senior judge believes courts in the UK, should sit in private only when there is no alternative.

Lord Neuberger, president of the Supreme Court, says judges should apply a similar no-option test when making orders preventing litigants being identified. And he says documents relied on in court hearings should be made available to journalists covering cases.

“You should not be making any privacy or confidentiality orders unless you as the judge are satisfied that there is no alternative, that justice could not be done without confidentiality or privacy orders,” Lord Neuberger said in an interview yesterday.

And he said judges should do everything possible to limit the amount of a time a court had to sit in private.