Japanese Law Update #18: All Civil Judgments Rendered by Japanese Courts after 2026 will Become Available Online
1. The Government Committee Recommends the Establishment of a Comprehensive Database of Civil Judgements
In 2022, the Code of Civil Procedure was amended to promote the digitization of the entire process of civil litigation in Japan (See “Japanese Law Update #10: E-Litigation will be Finally Available in Japan” ). Since then, the Ministry of Justice's Civil Judgment Information Database Review Committee had held discussions on the creation of a new database of civil judgements in Japan. In July 2024, the Committee finalized its report (the "Final Report"), and a bill to establish a civil judgment database system is expected to be submitted during the special Diet session later this year, with the aim of starting the operation of the new database in 2026. The reform of the Civil Procedure Code which dealt with the digitization of civil litigation procedures is expected to be fully implemented by then, and judgments will be also digitized accordingly. The Final Report points out that "information related to civil court procedure is increasingly valued as a public good that should be shared by the society as a whole," and it reaffirms the role of the judiciary as serving the public interest.
2. The Establishment of the Judgement Database
The proposed civil judgment information database system will operate by first having the courts provide judgment data to a nonprofit organization, referred to as the Information Management Agency, which will anonymize personal information included in the judgements. After the anonymization process, the Information Management Agency will then provide the judgment data for a fee to various user organizations. The judgements are written in Japanese. Currently, the new database does not plan to include English translations of each judgement, but the judgement data will be stored in an editable format which will support translation of the judgements into other languages.
The intended users of this system include publishers of legal journals, legal database companies, libraries, research and educational institutions, legal practitioners, researchers, legal tech companies that analyze judgment data, as well as government agencies and other entities that utilize judgment data for business or research purposes.
3. Judgments as Public Goods
Currently, only a small percentage of civil judgments have been made available through the courts’ websites or legal databases, making it difficult to conduct statistical analyses of civil judgments. With the new database, civil judgments can be treated as quantitative data, enabling various types of analysis, including AI-driven outcome predictions, which is expected to foster new business opportunities, and to provide effective statistical analysis for businesses including third party litigation funders to evaluate potential claims.
On the other hand, both the parties involved in civil litigation and the courts will need to handle the litigation procedure on the assumption that judgments will be broadly published. Parties who have concerns about privacy or secrecy of business information should consider applying restrictions on the access to the court documents which are accessible to any person who visits the court where the case is pending. It is important to note that the anonymization process will apply only to personal information (such as names and addresses of natural persons), whereas corporate names and locations will not be anonymized.
In litigation practice, it is very common for dispute resolution lawyers to cite previous judgments as precedent in briefs to support the litigant’s arguments. With the number of judgments expected to become available annually increasing from the current rate of several hundreds to approximately 200,000, a wider range of cases will be cited in arguments and judgments. This may encourage the development of law through the analysis of the scope of legal precedents.
Author
Yoshie Midorikawa, Partner
Yoshie Midorikawa has extensive experience in complex disputes and arbitration. Having worked with leading law firms in Japan and Singapore, she has handled parallel proceedings across multiple jurisdictions as well as domestic disputes before Japanese courts. She has also served as a board member of listed companies in Japan, improving their corporate governance. Her deep understanding of the civil law system, her working experience in international environments, including common law jurisdictions, and her knowledge of business, enable her to bring practical and nuanced legal solutions to international businesses. She is listed among “Dispute Resolution Lawyer of the Year finalist” by ALB Japan Law Awards 2024, “Next Generation Partners (Dispute Resolution)” by Legal500 Asia Pacific 2023 and 2024, “Best Lawyers in Japan (Litigation)” in the editions of 2021 to 2025, “Best Lawyers in Japan (Corporate Governance & Compliance)” in the edition of 2023 to 2025, “Best Lawyers in Japan (International Arbitration)” in the edition of 2024 and 2025 by Best Lawyers.