National case law

Latvia

This section provides you with an overview of Latvia’s case-law.

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Latvia

Online databases of case law

A case-law database was set up by Latvia’s Supreme Court (Latvijas Republikas Augstākā tiesa). It catalogues court rulings that are relevant for the consistency of, research into and development of case-law.

The case-law of the Supreme Court can be selected by judicial institution, type of case, sector, sub-sector, legal principles, essence of the case (arguments) and keywords in the text.

The Supreme Court case-law database is accessible via the Supreme Court e-services portal and the Supreme Court home page.

In addition, valid rulings given in open court can be published on the portal on matters of public interest (i.e., rulings published for civic or legal educational purposes), as can other rulings delivered in open court at the discretion of the court concerned.

Presentation of rulings/titles

Formats

The judgments in the Case-law database of the National Courts Portal are available in HTML format.

The judgments published on the National Courts Portal are available in PDF format.

Relevant courts

Supreme Court

Judgments of the Supreme Court are available in the Case-law database of the Supreme Court’s website and on the National Courts Portal website.

Ordinary courts

Judgments of the ordinary courts are available on the National Courts Portal website.

Follow-up proceedings

Information on follow-up proceedings is available on the National Courts Portal, by using the option Progress of proceedings (Tiesvedības gaita) in the E-services section or through the section available to authorised users of the portal My cases (Manas lietas).

Unauthorised users can access general information about the progress of a case in the Progress of proceedings section by entering the case or summons number.

In the My cases’ section, authorised users have the possibility of viewing the data and case material of cases to which they are a party (including rulings and audio files of proceedings in the case).

Authorisation to use the National Courts Portal is granted based on:

  • an ID card,
  • electronic signature,
  • mobile electronic signature,
  • eIDAS.

Rules on publication

Delivery

If the case is heard in open court, the court ruling (comprising an introductory part, descriptive part, grounds and operative part) becomes generally accessible information from the date on which it is delivered.

If no ruling or judgment is delivered in court (if a case is considered only by written procedure, for instance), the decision is considered generally accessible from the date on which it is received.

If a case is heard in closed session, and if the introductory and operative parts of the court ruling or judgment are read out in open session, those parts of the respective court ruling or judgment are considered generally accessible information and may be published.

Accessibility

The accessibility of court rulings is governed by the Law on the judiciary and Cabinet Regulation No 123 of 10 February 2009 on Rules on publishing judicial information on an internet website and the processing of court rulings before they are issued (hereinafter 'Cabinet Regulation No 123').

Cabinet Regulation No 123 lays down that when preparing a ruling for publication, certain data, enabling natural persons to be identified, are to be erased and replaced by an appropriate indicator:

  • a person’s name and surname, to be replaced by a capital letter freely chosen from the Latvian alphabet (the letter chosen to replace the name and surname is selected so that the persons referred to in the ruling can be distinguished from each other);
  • a person’s personal identification number is replaced by the words ‘personal identification number’;
  • a person’s home address is replaced by the words ‘place of residence’;
  • the address of a person’s immovable property is replaced by the word ‘address’;
  • the reference number of any immovable property in the property register is replaced by the words ‘cadastral reference’;
  • and a vehicle registration number is replaced by the words ‘registration number’.

In preparing the ruling for publication or issuing, the details of judges, prosecutors, certified lawyers, certified notaries, insolvency administrators, presiding judges and certified bailiffs are not deleted or redacted.

Last update: 05/10/2023

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