Supreme Judicial Court Rules  Supreme Judicial Court order regarding an agreement between the Supreme Judicial Court and the state archivist

To secure and promote the preservation of the Commonwealth’s judicial papers, records, exhibits and artifacts (judicial records), improve public access to judicial records, and promote greater use of judicial records in documenting the history of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and its inhabitants, and pursuant G.L. c. 221, §27A (last para.), it is hereby ORDERED: That any judicial records which have been filed or deposited in or which are located in any court of the Commonwealth or elsewhere may, unless otherwise prohibited by law, and provided that the Executive Director of the Supreme Judicial Court approves, be moved to the Massachusetts Archives at Columbia Point in Boston, Massachusetts (State Archives). The Supreme Judicial Court shall retain ownership, and the Executive Director of the State Archives shall be the custodian, of all judicial records currently stored at the State Archives and all judicial records that are moved to the State Archives in the future. The Supreme Judicial Court shall enter into an agreement with the Secretary of the Commonwealth consistent with this Order and further defining the terms and conditions pursuant to which judicial records shall be moved, removed, maintained, preserved, treated, and made available to the public.

This Order replaces the prior Order on this topic issued by this Court, dated January 17, 1984.