Family Division transcripts (FOI)

Request

Please send me a copy of the transcript of the hearing in the Family Division between [name redacted]  and [name redacted] on the [date redacted] No. [reference redacted]

Response

We have removed names of parties, the date and the court reference number from the request as it would not be fair or lawful to publish such personal data in a Freedom of Information (FOI) response.

We do not automatically create transcripts of all court hearings and in this instance we have not transcribed the hearing and therefore do not hold the transcript requested.

Note that if we did hold a transcript matching this request we would not supply it in response to a FOI request, because it is court information which contains several people’s personal data and disclosure without permission of the court would constitute a contempt of court. This means under the FOI Law a transcript is information which is likely to be absolutely exempt under three different articles, namely Article 24 (Court Information), Article 25 (Personal information), and Article 29 (Other prohibitions).

If the applicant is a party to the case then it is possible a transcript or permission to listen to the recording of the hearing will be provided by following the established procedure referred to in the next paragraph: in this situation the information is also absolutely exempt from release under the FOI Law as it is accessible to the applicant by other means.

There is an established procedure for obtaining a transcription of a court hearing via the Jersey Courts’ Transcription Service. Guidelines are published on the Jersey Legal Iinformation Board at the following link:

Court Transcription Guidelines

Articles referenced

Article 23 Information accessible to applicant by other means

(1) Information is absolutely exempt information if it is reasonably available to the applicant, otherwise than under this Law, whether or not free of charge.

(2) A scheduled public authority that refuses an application for information on this ground must make reasonable efforts to inform the applicant where the applicant may obtain the information.

Article 24 Court information

(1) Information is absolutely exempt information if it is held by a scheduled public authority only by virtue of being contained in a document –

(a) filed with, or otherwise placed in the custody of, a court; or

(b) served upon, or by, the scheduled public authority,

in proceedings in a particular cause or matter.

(2) Information is absolutely exempt information if it is held by a scheduled public authority only by virtue of being contained in a document created by –

(a) a court; or

(b) a member of the administrative staff of a court,

in proceedings in a particular cause or matter.

(3) Information is absolutely exempt information if it is held by a scheduled public authority only by virtue of being contained in a document –

(a) placed in the custody of; or

(b) created by,

a person conducting an inquiry or arbitration, for the purposes of the inquiry or arbitration.

(4) In this Article –

“arbitration” means arbitration to which Part 2 of the Arbitration (Jersey) Law 1998[5] applies;

“court” includes any tribunal in which legal proceedings may be brought;

“inquiry” means an inquiry or a hearing held under an enactment;

“proceedings in a particular cause or matter” includes an inquest or post-mortem examination.

Article 25 Personal information

(1) Information is absolutely exempt information if it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is the data subject as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2018.

(2) Information is absolutely exempt information if –

(a) it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is not the data subject as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2018; and

(b) its supply to a member of the public would contravene any of the data protection principles, as defined in that Law.

(3) In determining for the purposes of this Article whether the lawfulness principle in Article 8(1)(a) of the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2018 would be contravened by the disclosure of information, paragraph 5(1) of Schedule 2 to that Law (legitimate interests) is to be read as if sub-paragraph (b) (which disapplies the provision where the controller is a public authority) were omitted.

Article 29 Other prohibitions or restrictions

Information is absolutely exempt information if the disclosure of the information by the scheduled public authority holding it –

(a) is prohibited by or under an enactment;

(b) is incompatible with a European Union or an international obligation that applies to Jersey; or

(c) would constitute or be punishable as a contempt of court.