Can you request a judges notes under a data protection?

lifeandtimes

Hi,

As the title says, if you are before a judge for a case in any court i.e. criminal/family etc can you request the judges notes that they jot down through out the hearing,under the data protection act after the case is finished?

Vetch

I doubt it. They can't be accessed under FOI so doubtful that Data Protection is different http://www.courts.ie/Courts.ie/Library3.nsf/PageCurrent/0C2BB029A1157BA780257FC0004E8631?opendocument&l=en

Even if you could get them under Data Protection you would only get the content insofar as it relates to yourself and perhaps your children who are minors, if it is in the best interest of the children.

lifeandtimes

Vetch wrote: »

I doubt it. They can't be accessed under FOI so doubtful that Data Protection is different http://www.courts.ie/Courts.ie/Library3.nsf/PageCurrent/0C2BB029A1157BA780257FC0004E8631?opendocument&l=en

Even if you could get them under Data Protection you would only get the content insofar as it relates to yourself and perhaps your children who are minors, if it is in the best interest of the children.

Thanks for this.

I would hopped they were for cases were someone may have felt victimised by a judge and the notes had something like "this person is an a$$hole" etc written in them as proof they had an unfair trial.

Anyway thanks for your input

GM228

You can in the UK (only if they are put into the court file - otherwise not), and considering both jurisdictions stem from the same EU directive it's likely you can here too.

The Law Society November Gazette (see p48) has an article on it:-

AT A GLANCE

The ICO determined that notes taken by a judge, once put in the court file, formed part of a structured filing system.

The ICO further found that the Ministry of Justice was a data controller once the notes were moved from the judge’s control and put on the court file.

Therefore, as a data controller, the ministry had obligations in relation to the personal data it held, including disclosing the data held on the court file, should a request be made

Grolschevik

There was an English data protection decision recently that said that, if judges notes are lodged with the official court records, then they could be subject to disclosure.

Two things. It's an English decision, so would require a similar determination to be made by the Irish Data Protection Commissioner. And second, it only applies to judges' notes that are officially lodged as part of the court records, not to spontaneous personal memos.

I read an article about it recently. I'll go and dig it out now.

Grolschevik

Got there before me, GM228!

In case the other link is broken: https://www.lawsociety.ie/globalassets/documents/gazette/gazette-2017/nov-17-gazette.pdf

lifeandtimes

Interesting.

Say a person could acquire a judges notes and on said notes(bare with me) it was found the judge noted someone was an "a-hole" ""scrounger" "d-head" or any terms that would be considered derogatory, would that have a bearing on the outcome of the hearing or could the person they referred to make a complaint etc.

I'm asking because the notes are considered a sacred thing and way into a judges thinking during the trial and would give a better understanding into what influenced their decision etc

Brian Lighthouse

Dude, really?

Victor

lifeandtimes wrote: »

it was found the judge noted someone was an "a-hole" ""scrounger" "d-head" or any terms that would be considered derogatory,

Do you really think a judge would write down something like that?

would that have a bearing on the outcome of the hearing or could the person they referred to make a complaint etc.

If a judge did write down something that didn't put a party in a good light, maybe that comment is true?

4ensic15

A judge is only supposed to hld on to such notes for as long as is necessary. After the time for an appeal or review has expired they should be destroyed. Interview boards are now required to keep their notes made during interview.