Welcome to the official Web site of the office of the Reporter of Decisions of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) and the Appeals Court.

Since 1804 the Reporter's office has prepared the opinions of the SJC, the oldest court in continuous existence in the Western Hemisphere. The Appeals Court was established in 1972 and since then the Reporter's office has published the Massachusetts Appeals Court Reports.

There are four publications of the SJC and Appeals Court found on this Web site. Three of these publications are provided at no charge: slip opinions, opinion archive, and unpublished decisions. The fourth publication, the advance sheets, is available by subscription.

Slip opinions. Most opinions are released within 130 days of oral argument, the text of which is made available to the public shortly after 10 A.M. on days opinions are released. An announcement is made on the Web site (Today's SJC Opinions) at 8 A.M., indicating whether the SJC intends to release cases at 10 A.M. and, if so, listing the case captions and docket numbers of those opinions the SJC intends to release. The opinions of the Appeals Court are not announced in advance.

The Web site provides two methods for gaining access to the slip opinions: (a) logging on to the Web site and checking for the opinion sought, or (b) registering for automatic electronic mail delivery of cases.

Slip opinions posted to the Web site are removed within two weeks and then appear in advance sheet format in the Advance Sheet and Opinion Archive sections of the site.

Opinion Archive. The opinions of the SJC and Appeals Court (the two appellate courts) released since 2001 are available, without charge, in the archive. These opinions are fully searchable.

Unpublished Decisions. The memoranda and orders that support the decisions pursuant to rule 1:28 of the Appeals Court released since February 26, 2008, are available, without charge, in this publication.

Advance Sheets. The slip opinions are superseded within two weeks by publication of the advance sheets. The advance sheets from the preceding week appear on the Web site each Monday. The advance sheets (both printed and electronic versions) include (1) the opinions of the two appellate courts with headnotes; (2) the SJC orders for further appellate review; (3) the Appeals Court decisions pursuant to its rule 1:28 as they appear in the printed advance sheets; and (4) the amendments to the Massachusetts Rules of Civil Procedure, Rules of Criminal Procedure, Rules of Appellate Procedure, and the Rules of the Supreme Judicial Court. The advance sheets also include all subsequent amendments and corrections made to the opinions between the time of their release and the publication of the bound volumes. A subscription to the electronic advance sheets may be obtained on the Web site, or by calling 1-800-344-5009.

We hope our Web site is useful and informative. We welcome your comments and suggestions for ways to improve it.