Since 2018 it has been possible to search Estonian case law that has been published and is in force by using ECLI, the European Case Law Identifier. It is easier and quicker to find Estonian case law using the identifier. The adoption of the ECLI also supports the implementation of open data policies. The ECLI has also been added to the metadata page for case law, which opens in the search results.
The ECLI has been added to all Supreme Court and county and district court case law since the second half of 2016.
Published case law has been given an ECLI since the second half of 2016, and the number is made up of five components separated by a colon (for example ECLI:EE:RK:2016:1.16.2798.84).
ECLI – European Case Law Identifier; EE – country identifier; RK – court identifier; 2016 – year of publication; 1.16.2798.84 – (e.g. 1-16-2798/84) in the number of the court case, the symbols ‘-’ and ‘/’ are replaced by dots and the sequential control number ‘84’ is added at the end.
The ECLI number can also be used as a URL and searches can be performed using the following logic (where ‘kohtulahendid’ means ‘case law’):
…/kohtulahendid/ecli/ECLI:EE – all case law with an ECLI
…/kohtulahendid/ecli/ECLI:EE:RK:2016 – all Supreme Court case law in 2016
…/kohtulahendid/ecli/ECLI:EE:RK:2016:1.16.2798.84 – a specific Supreme Court judgment
The court identifiers are as follows:
RK – Supreme Court
TLRK – Tallinn District Court
TRRK – Tartu District Court
TLHK – Tallinn Administrative Court
TRHK –Tartu Administrative Court
HMK – Harju County Court
PMK – Pärnu County Court
TMK – Tartu County Court
VMK – Viru County Court