All courts should work openly and publicly so that their decisions are available for public scrutiny.
This means that the court should not hold hearings and adopt judgements in secret, ensuring that the work of the court is open and visible to the public.
Right to a public hearing
Your right to a public hearing, in at least one instance, involves:
1. A right to hold an oral hearing which members of the public can attend
The right to an oral hearing generally applies in three instances of the proceedings. Read more about an oral hearing.
2. A right to public announcement of the judgement
The requirement to pronounce a judgement in public does not mean that each judgement must be announced in a courtroom with members of the public present. A judgement will be considered to have been pronounced publicly if it is made available to the public, for example, though a special website. Depending on the circumstances of the case, certain parts of the judgement may be concealed.
example A person’s medical data or other confidential information can be concealed.
Exceptions
Generally, oral court hearings must be public, which means that members of the public and press are allowed to be present in the courtroom. However, the press and other members of society may be excluded from participating in some hearings if there are special reasons for this.
example Closed court sessions may be held to protect a minor involved in the proceedings, to protect the private life of one of the participants, or when a case involves the examination of a state secret
In all cases, when a judge makes a decision to hold a hearing that is closed to public, he/she must provide specific reasons for such decision. There must be reasons for holding a closed session for each hearing or part of a hearing.
example The need to protect a witness cannot justify the examination of the entire case in closed sessions if the witness is only questioned in one session.