How to check the current status of a public matter

Step 1: find the system of record

Each kind of public matter has an official system that holds its record. A press report or a private database can be out of date. The system run by the court, parliament or registry is the record to check first.

• US federal courts: PACER lets users search a specific court or a national index, and file cases electronically ¹.
• England and Wales: Find Case Law is the official and free source for judgments and decisions of courts and tribunals, run by The National Archives ⁵.
• India: the eCourts portal lists Cause Lists, Case Status and Orders or Judgments for High Courts and District Courts ⁶.
• Australia: the Commonwealth Courts Portal gives web access to case information in the Federal Court of Australia and the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia ¹⁰.
• UK Parliament: the Parliamentary Bills site lists each bill with its session, originating House and next stage ².
• Companies: Companies House in the UK ³, ASIC in Australia ⁸ and the Delaware Division of Corporations in the United States ⁷ each publish status information.

Step 2: identify the matter exactly

Names repeat. Use the identifier the system assigns. In India, the eCourts SMS service returns the current status of a case when the user sends the CNR number ⁶.

Bills carry a session as well as a title. The UK Parliamentary Bills site shows labels such as Session 2026-27, and some bills run across two sessions ².

Companies carry a registration number. ASIC asks for the company's name and ACN when someone contacts it about a pending deregistration ⁸.

Step 3: read the latest entry, not the first one

A court docket is a log containing the complete history of each case in the form of brief chronological entries, according to the US federal courts glossary ⁹. The current status is in the most recent entries. The case file is a complete collection of every document filed in court in a case ⁹.

For a bill, the Parliamentary Bills listing shows the next stage, such as 2nd reading, committee stage or consideration of Lords amendments, with a last updated date and time ².

For a company, the status field changes as events happen. ASIC changes a company's status on the register to strike off in progress once it starts deregistration ⁸.

Step 4: check what the system does not show

No register is complete. Find Case Law holds the vast majority of judgments that courts have made publicly available in digital form, but not all court decisions are written down ⁵. Many lower court hearings are given verbally and never transcribed ⁵.

The Commonwealth Courts Portal shows documents filed, scheduled listing events and orders to registered users who link their account to their files ¹⁰.

Delaware's online status check will not generate an official certificate of good standing ⁷. A short form certificate of status costs US$50.00 and a long form certificate of good standing costs US$175.00 ⁷.

Step 5: confirm with the document itself

A status label is a summary. The order or judgment is the record. The US courts glossary defines a judgment as the official decision of a court finally resolving the dispute between the parties ⁹. On PACER, court opinions are always free ⁴.

Write down the date you checked and the date the record shows. A status can change the next day.