Rule 5.8 Request for information about a caseI1
England and Wales
This rule—
applies where anyone, including a member of the public or a reporter, requests information about a case including information contained in materials kept by the court officer for the purposes of the case; and
applies where a party or other person wants the court to prohibit a supply of information without the court’s permission which affects that party or person and which otherwise would be required by this rule; but
does not apply if rule 5.12 applies (Request for certificate, extract or information under other legislation).
A person requesting information must—
ask the court officer;
specify the information requested; and
pay any fee prescribed.
A request for information—
may be made orally or in writing, and need not explain why the information is requested, if this rule requires the court officer to supply that information; but
must be in writing, unless the court otherwise permits, and must explain why the information is requested, if this rule does not so require.
Subject to paragraph (5), the court officer must supply to the person making the request—
the date of a hearing in public;
the statement of each alleged offence (but not the particulars of offence) and any plea entered;
the court’s decision—
at a hearing in public,
to grant or withhold bail, or to impose or vary a bail condition (but not the terms of any such condition), or
about the committal, sending or transfer of the case to another court;
whether the case is under appeal;
the outcome of the case;
the identity of—
the prosecutor,
the defendant, including the defendant’s date of birth,
the parties’ representatives, including their addresses, and
the judge, magistrate or magistrates, or justices’ legal adviser by whom a decision at a hearing in public was made;
such other information about the case as is required by arrangements to which paragraph (6)(c) refers;
details of any reporting or access restriction ordered by the court; and
notice that reporting restrictions may apply to the publication of information supplied under this rule.
The court officer must not supply the information requested if—
the supply of that information is prohibited by—
a reporting restriction or other order or requirement to withhold information from the public, or
an order made on an application under paragraph (8);
that information is—
the date of a hearing in public of which a party has yet to be notified, or
a recording arranged under rule 5.5 (Recording and transcription of proceedings in the Crown Court), or a copy or transcript of such a recording;
that information concerns a trial in which the verdict was more than 6 months ago; or
that information is not readily available to the court officer (for example, because of the location or conditions of its storage).
Where the court officer must supply the information requested the supply may be—
by word of mouth;
in writing, including by written certificate or extract from a court record; or
by such other arrangements as the Lord Chancellor directs, including supply by electronic means.
Where this rule does not require the court officer to supply the information requested then unless that information can be supplied under rule 5.9—
the court officer must refer the request to the court; and
rule 5.10 applies.
Where a party or other person wants the court to prohibit a supply of information without the court’s permission which affects that party or person and which otherwise would be required by this rule—
that party or person must serve an application on the court officer;
the application must—
specify the information to which the applicant wants the prohibition to apply,
explain why that information affects that party or person, and
explain why the applicant wants the court to prohibit the supply of that information without the court’s permission; and
rule 5.10 applies.
[Note. See also rule 5.7 (The open justice principle).]