---
name: court-proceedings-data
description: Query Riigi Teataja's public JSON endpoints for Estonian court decisions and court hearings.
module: kohtud.mjs
execution: post
---

# Court Decisions and Hearings

## Access

- Search UI: `https://www.riigiteataja.ee/et/otsing/kohtulahendid`
- API base: `https://www.riigiteataja.ee/public-api/api/v1`
- Public JSON POST endpoints; no login is required.

## Retrieve

Post JSON to `/kohtuteave/otsing/kohtulahendid` for decisions. A minimal request is:

```json
{
  "general": {
    "searchInText": false,
    "searchInTitle": false,
    "searchText": "",
    "searchText2": "",
    "logicalOperator": "AND",
    "morphSearch": false,
    "sort": "toiminguNr",
    "sortAscending": false
  },
  "precise": {"kohus": [], "seaduseSatted": {}}
}
```

Post the same `general` object to `/kohtuteave/otsing/kohtuistungid` with `precise: {"kohus": []}` for hearings. Useful precise decision fields include `lahendiKpAlgus`, `lahendiKpLopp`, `kohtunik`, `ecliNr`, `menetluseTyyp`, `menetlusliigid`, `kohtumenetluseLiik`, and `kohus`. Hearing fields include `istungiAegAlgus`, `istungiAegLopp`, `istungiLiik`, `istungiSaal`, `kohtunik`, `menetluseLiik`, and `kohus`.

Both responses contain `kokku` and up to 30 `tulemused`. Narrow the query with dates or court filters; do not treat the first response as a bulk export. A decision's public file is `GET /kohtuteave/kohtulahendid/{avalikustatudFailiId}/file`.

## Return

- `courtDecisions()` rows are `{case, date, court, proceeding, status, statusDate, fileName, fileUrl, annotations, objektId}`; `courtHearings()` rows are `{case, time, court, judge, kind, room, status, title}`.
- Read a decision's own text with `fileText(row.fileUrl)`. Riigikohus publishes HTML there, the lower courts PDF; `fileText()` sniffs either.
- Do not infer an outcome from a hearing listing or an annotation.

## Limits

- Publicity restrictions and redactions apply; this is not access to complete case files.
- The result API returns 30 rows at a time and exposes no documented bulk pagination contract. Use focused searches. `leht`, `page`, `offset`, `start`, `from` and `algus` were each tried on 2026-08-01 and every one returned the same first page, so `kokku` (`totals.total`) is the ONLY count.
- Dates: the decision endpoint takes plain `YYYY-MM-DD`, the hearing endpoint requires a zoned timestamp (`2026-08-03T00:00:00+03:00`) and answers HTTP 400 to a bare date (re-checked 2026-08-02). The module handles both.

```probe-limit
claim the hearing endpoint requires a zoned timestamp (`2026-08-03T00:00:00+03:00`) and answers HTTP 400 to a bare date
# Both halves of the sentence, in order: the decision endpoint takes the bare
# date, the hearing endpoint refuses it, and the control is that SAME hearing
# request with the SAME date in the zoned form — so a day when the hearings
# endpoint answered 400 to everything cannot read as this claim holding.
POST https://www.riigiteataja.ee/public-api/api/v1/kohtuteave/otsing/kohtulahendid
body-json {"general":{},"precise":{"lahendiKpAlgus":"2026-01-01"}}
expect-status 200
POST https://www.riigiteataja.ee/public-api/api/v1/kohtuteave/otsing/kohtuistungid
body-json {"general":{},"precise":{"istungiAegAlgus":"2026-08-03"}}
expect-status 400
# `general` is load-bearing even when empty: a body without that key answers
# HTTP 500 on both endpoints, and 500 is a status the kohus block below
# asserts — so a trimmed body would confirm a claim for the wrong reason
# (measured 2026-08-02).
control POST https://www.riigiteataja.ee/public-api/api/v1/kohtuteave/otsing/kohtuistungid
body-json {"general":{},"precise":{"istungiAegAlgus":"2026-08-03T00:00:00+03:00"}}
```

- The `kohus` filter takes unpublished classifier ids: passing a court's name answers 400 (decisions) or 500 (hearings) (re-checked 2026-08-02). Narrow by date or text and read each row's `court`.

```probe-limit
claim passing a court's name answers 400 (decisions) or 500 (hearings)
POST https://www.riigiteataja.ee/public-api/api/v1/kohtuteave/otsing/kohtuistungid
body-json {"general":{},"precise":{"kohus":["Harju Maakohus"]}}
expect-status 500
POST https://www.riigiteataja.ee/public-api/api/v1/kohtuteave/otsing/kohtulahendid
body-json {"general":{},"precise":{"kohus":["Harju Maakohus"]}}
expect-status 400
# The control is that same decisions request with the court name REMOVED, which
# is what separates "the name is not a classifier id" from "the body is
# malformed": a malformed body answers 400 here too and would otherwise confirm
# the claim on its own.
control POST https://www.riigiteataja.ee/public-api/api/v1/kohtuteave/otsing/kohtulahendid
body-json {"general":{},"precise":{"kohus":[]}}
```

- Both endpoints are **JSON-only POST**: the same body sent as `application/x-www-form-urlencoded` answers HTTP 415, and a GET answers HTTP 405 (checked 2026-08-02).

```probe-limit
claim the same body sent as `application/x-www-form-urlencoded` answers HTTP 415
# `general=x` is a stand-in body on purpose, and swapping in the real JSON one
# breaks this: the API replays a 200 it has already answered for that exact
# body, media type and all. A body it had just accepted as JSON came back 200
# under the form Content-Type; a body it had never seen came back 415 in the
# same second (measured 2026-08-02). Only a body no probe ever sends as JSON
# tests the media type rather than the cache.
POST https://www.riigiteataja.ee/public-api/api/v1/kohtuteave/otsing/kohtuistungid
body general=x
expect-status 415
expect /Unsupported Media Type/
GET https://www.riigiteataja.ee/public-api/api/v1/kohtuteave/otsing/kohtuistungid
expect-status 405
# The control is the documented GET on the same API: one published decision
# file. Without it, a day when the whole public-api refused everything would
# confirm both refusals above while the source was simply down.
control GET https://www.riigiteataja.ee/public-api/api/v1/kohtuteave/kohtulahendid/451798218/file
```
- Historical URLs ending in `koik_menetlused.html` and `kohtuistungid_otsing.html` now load the same JavaScript application; they are not data endpoints.

## Verify

- Require HTTP 200 JSON with integer `kokku` and nonempty `tulemused` from both POST endpoints.
- Require decision rows to contain `kohtuasjaNumber`, `objektId`, and `lahendiKuulutamiseAeg`; require hearing rows to contain `kohtuasjaNr`, `kohus`, and `istungiAeg`.


## Module API
courtDecisions({text, from, to, judge, ecli, inTitle}) -> {source, page, query, totals, rows, note}
courtHearings({from, to, judge}) -> {source, page, query, totals, rows, note}