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Explore the critical need for open access to machine-readable court judgments in the German legal system through this 39-minute conference talk from the 39th Chaos Communication Congress. Examine how the lack of published court decisions undermines scientific legal research and challenges principles of rule of law, while commercial entities gain more insight into German jurisprudence than the courts themselves. Discover why legal science, like any scientific discipline, requires accessible source material to conduct empirical research and maintain scientific standards in legal writing and judicial decisions. Learn about the current problematic state where most court judgments remain unpublished due to administrative reluctance, creating serious scientific and societal issues when decisions are locked away in dusty filing cabinets. Analyze specific examples of problematic quotes from current, unchangeable court rulings that demonstrate the real-world consequences of this opacity. Understand strategies being developed to "power-cycle" the legal system to make judgments comprehensively accessible, thereby restoring transparency to Germany's actual legal landscape. Gain insights into how improved access to court decisions would enable civil society and politicians to independently verify whether judges typically apply law in accordance with legislative intent - something currently impossible to assess systematically.
