전자소송시대의 소송기록 열람 및 판결서 공개에 대한 적정한 방안의 모색: 일본 민사소송법 개정 및 민사재판정보활용법 제정의 의의를 중심으로

Judgment information serves as a core resource for parties in dispute resolution and early settlement strategies. Through the application of artificial intelligence (AI) and similar technologies, public access to judgement information can be dramatically enhanced, and when made available at low cost, such access may significantly contribute to protecting vulnerable groups who face barriers to legal services. Furthermore, when judgment information are made available as open data, they offer valuable opportunities for legal scholars to engage in macro-level analyses, such as identifying trends in judicial decisions. Judgments, as official documents that reflect both the legal conclusions and the reasoning process of the judiciary, perform a public function and, under the principle of the rule of law, ought to be disclosed. From the perspective of litigants, however, the primary purpose of litigation is to seek redress for individual rights, not to contribute to the development of public database. Consequently, there may be resistance to the general disclosure of judgement information in the same manner as other public records. In practice, court records inevitably contain sensitive personal data and trade secrets of the litigants, raising the critical question of the extent to which such confidential information should be protected in the context of public access to judicial proceedings. While excessive protection of personal and business information may undermine the transparency and accountability promoted by open justice, it remains essential to ensure the privacy and confidentiality of litigants. From this perspective, Japan’s recent legislative developments require closer examination. Along with the introduction of electronic litigation, Japan revised the Civil Procedure Act to strengthen the confidentiality of court records and enacted the Act on the Promotion of Utilization of Civil Judgment Information, thereby establishing a legal foundation for the development of an open data system for judgment information. These reforms provide valuable comparative insights into how judgement inforamtion—particularly those that form the basis of legal services powered by AI and other legal technologies—can be disclosed and managed.