Washington opinions through territorial days now free online

It was 1854 when Patrick Fowler was sentenced to one hour in jail and a $500 fine for selling and giving “spirituous liquors to Indians.”

He appealed. And one month later the Supreme Court of the Territory of Washington agreed he was guilty.

But the Chief Justice Edward Lander tossed out the fine from the Pierce County court.

Fowler’s case was one of the first decided by state Supreme Court justices and now anyone can find and read them for free.

The state’s Administrative Office of the Courts has created a new website for judicial opinions.

There is no charge to use the legal database, www.lexisnexis.com/clients/wareports, and search for updated versions of the state’s case law.

“For a long time, we have wanted to provide the public with free, high-quality access to the enormous set of published opinions of Washington’s Supreme Court and Court of Appeals, stretching all the way back to 1854,” said Rick Neidhardt, Washington Supreme Court Reporter of Decisions. “And we are very pleased to offer this website for public use.”

Typically, people must pay use to databases like LexisNexis and Thomson Reuters Westlaw or rely on free sites that may not have the latest version of an opinion.

That can include the Washington Courts site, www.courts.wa.gov/opinions, where users can find opinions dating to February 2013.

The original opinions are posted on the day the issues are decided by the appellate court, but that does not mean they are the final version. Opinions can be changed by subsequent court orders, or cleaned up for grammar, format and citation.

Neidhardt said people will be able to quote from the website’s opinions with confidence because what they are seeing is “intended to mirror word-for-word” the state’s official set of printed law books, known as the Washington Reports and Washington Appellate Reports.

Users will only find published appellate opinions, since the site is based on what is contained in those law books.

“We believe this will be an important help to people around the state, especially those who do not have paid access to commercial online databases,” Neidhardt said.

“This includes self-represented people, members of the media, lawmakers, researchers, students and those who are simply interested in learning more about the law.”

This story was originally published June 3, 2016 at 5:29 PM with the headline "Washington opinions through territorial days now free online."