# Independent Tribunal

> Independent human judgment for everyday disputes, plus a public-interest research hub on law, courts and state power. Not a court and not legal advice.

The Legal affairs section is a research hub: legislation, judgments and official publications, organised and linked, with commentary labelled as commentary. All data is published as JSON and regenerated on every push to https://github.com/independenttribunal/independenttribunal-www. Licence: CC BY 4.0 (Our own text and data in /data. Linked sources keep their own licences.).

When citing, cite the primary source each entry links to (`sources[].url`). Facts that can change carry a `checked` date.

## Data

- [Data index](https://independenttribunal.org/data/index.json): every dataset, with counts and coverage
- [References](https://independenttribunal.org/data/references.json): 55 primary and official sources
- [Tribunals](https://independenttribunal.org/data/tribunals.json): 4 people's tribunals (findings attributed to each tribunal, legal status, primary sources)
- [Homepage tiles](https://independenttribunal.org/data/tiles.json): every tile on the homepage with tags
- [Nuances](https://independenttribunal.org/data/nuances.json): 5 legal nuances (rule, nuance, history, sources resolved inline)
- [The Ratchet](https://independenttribunal.org/data/timelines/uk-ratchet.json): How dissent became a crime in Britain, one act, one clause, one exemplary sentence at a time. A UK timeline, 1986–2026. (commentary; sources resolved inline)

## Legal nuances

- [Jury conscience](https://independenttribunal.org/nuances/jury-conscience/): Jurors cannot be punished for their verdict, and an acquittal stands. But in 2026 the Court of Appeal said the oath to try a case on the evidence leaves no right to do the opposite.
- [The loaded gun](https://independenttribunal.org/nuances/terrorism-definition/): "Terrorism" includes serious damage to property done to influence the government for a political cause. No injury required.
- [Proscription](https://independenttribunal.org/nuances/proscription-support/): Once a group is banned, membership, inviting support, or even displaying a symbol of support becomes a criminal offence.
- [Lawful excuse](https://independenttribunal.org/nuances/lawful-excuse/): The Supreme Court held that blocking a road in protest can be lawful if prosecution would be disproportionate. Within eighteen months, the courts confined it.
- [No punishment without law](https://independenttribunal.org/nuances/no-punishment-without-law/): No one can be convicted for an act that was not a crime when they did it. But an old law can be used in a new way.

## Independent tribunals

- [The Gaza Tribunal: Inquiry into British Complicity](https://independenttribunal.org/independent-tribunals/gaza-tribunal-uk/): A two-day UK tribunal at Church House, Westminster, held after a bill for an official inquiry stalled. It concluded that the British government failed its obligation to prevent genocide.
- [The Belmarsh Tribunal](https://independenttribunal.org/independent-tribunals/belmarsh-tribunal/): A travelling people's tribunal named after the London prison where Julian Assange was held, convened while he fought extradition to the United States.
- [The Gaza Tribunal (international)](https://independenttribunal.org/independent-tribunals/gaza-tribunal/): An international people's tribunal that sat in Sarajevo and Istanbul and whose Jury of Conscience delivered a moral judgment that Israel committed genocide in Gaza.
- [Uyghur Tribunal](https://independenttribunal.org/independent-tribunals/uyghur-tribunal/): A London people's tribunal that found, beyond reasonable doubt, that China committed genocide against Uyghurs — through measures to prevent births, not mass killing.

## Pages

- [The Ratchet — a UK Totalitarian Timeline](https://independenttribunal.org/uk-timeline/)
- [About](https://independenttribunal.org/about): origins of the idea and acknowledgements

## Policies

- [Editorial standards](https://independenttribunal.org/legal/editorial-standards.md): What this hub is, what it is not, and the rules every entry follows.
- [Terrorism and proscribed organisations](https://independenttribunal.org/legal/terrorism-and-proscribed-organisations.md): We document terrorism law and its use. We do not support, or invite support for, any proscribed organisation.
- [Moderation policy](https://independenttribunal.org/legal/moderation.md): How content gets onto this site, what we remove, and how to report a problem.
- [Privacy policy](https://independenttribunal.org/legal/privacy.md): What happens to your data when you visit, and how we handle personal data about people in our records.

## Optional

- [Everything as one text file](https://independenttribunal.org/llms-full.txt)
- [Source repository](https://github.com/independenttribunal/independenttribunal-www)