comparative-law court-records
How long are the documents of courts stored in the contries of the West?
<p>Can anybody enlighten me about how long the documents of a judicial trial are stored in the court (or in archives) and are available for studying in the countries of the West, say in France, in Britain, in Germany, in USA?</p>

<p>I am asking because in Russia, where I live, people face problems in getting acquaintance with the documents of the court after certain period: all the documents, but the verdict of the judge, are annihilated in several years. I am curious how this problem is resolved in the West.</p>

<p>I'm not sure if you are asking for each of the countries listed, but I am assuming that they are there merely for example.</p>

<p>In the US, the are a variety of different rules for its different court systems. As a rule, each State can make its own rules for its court system, and the overarching Federal system has its own rules as well, although they run off of the same principles. As such, the answer varies on which state the court is located in and possibly the type of document. </p>

<p>In California, for example, different documents have different retention times for different documents. For example, documents for civil cases default to 10 years of retention, while adoption paperwork is retained permanently. For a criminal matter, the judgement (the final product that says if the accused is found guilty or innocent, and for what crimes) is retained permanently, while all other documents are retained for the greater of 50 years or the maximum length of sentence imposed.</p>

<p>When the retention period for a document is over, the document is not automatically destroyed(at least in California). Instead, the appropriate official sends an official notice to all the parties in the case that the document is to be destroyed, and if no response is received to transfer the documents, the documents can be destroyed.
(Source:<a href="http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=GOV&amp;sectionNum=68152" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=GOV&amp;sectionNum=68152</a>)</p>

<p>Note: I have said "document" throughout, which originally meant a piece of paper. However, recently, documents have been submitted electronically, and sometimes older documents are electronically scanned.</p>

<p>In <strong>Germany</strong>, this is regulated by the individual states (<em>Länder</em>), since the court system is (mostly) organized by the Länder.
However, there are some common regulations, for example the <em><a href="http://www.landesarchiv-bw.de/sixcms/media.php/120/46036/Behoerden_Aussonderung_Aufbew_Justiz.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Bestimmungen 
über die Aufbewahrungsfristen für das Schriftgut der ordentlichen Gerichtsbarkeit, der Staatsanwaltschaften und der Justizvollzugsbehörden</a></em> (<em>Regulations on the retention periods for documents of courts, prosecution and correctional institutions</em>).</p>

<p>An overview:</p>

<ul>
<li>Documents about proceedings in <strong>civil courts</strong> are retained for <strong>5 to 70</strong> years, depending on their nature. In particular, court decisions / judgements must be kept for at least 30 years.</li>
<li><strong>Criminal or administrative judgements</strong> must be kept for <strong>30 years</strong>.</li>
<li>If an accused receives a life sentence, court documents must be retained until the accused would have been 100 years old.</li>
</ul>
