Both the Danish Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights ensure open justice.
Open justice has two specific purposes. First, open justice should ensure that the relevant parties are not subjected to secret justice, which involves the risk that irrelevant considerations are given weight during adjudication. Secondly, the requirement for open justice will improve public confidence in the judicial system because the public learns how cases are adjudicated.
Open justice covers both public access to attending legal proceedings and media access to court room coverage. However, open justice sometimes has to yield to consideration for the parties or the investigation. In these situations, the court may decide to hear the case behind closed doors or impose reporting restrictions on certain details from the proceedings or the identity of the defendant.