There are four publications of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and Appeals Court provided by this Web site. Three of these publications are provided at no charge: slip opinions, opinion archive, and unpublished decisions. The fourth publication, advance sheets, is available by subscription. All four publications are fully searchable.

Slip opinions. In most cases the courts' opinions will be released within 130 days of oral argument, the text of which is made available to the public at 10 A.M. on days opinions are released. An announcement is made on the Web site (Today's SJC Opinions) at 8 A.M. indicating whether the Supreme Judicial Court intends to release cases at 10 A.M. and listing the case captions and docket numbers of those opinions the court intends to release. The opinions of the Appeals Court are not announced in advance.

The Web site provides two methods for gaining access to the slip opinions: (a) checking the Web site, clicking on a case caption, and either reading or printing the case from the screen; or (b) registering for automatic electronic mail delivery of cases from the following designated practice areas:

Slip opinions posted to the Web site are removed at the end of two weeks and, thereafter, may be found in the "Opinion Archive."

Opinion Archive. The opinions of the Supreme Judicial Court and Appeals Court released since 2001 are available, without charge, in this publication. This publication differs from the Advance Sheets in two respects. First, the opinions found in the archive do not contain the headnotes created by the office of the Reporter of Decisions. Second, the list of rule 1:28 decisions of the Appeals Court that appear in the slip opinion and advance sheet publications do not appear in the opinion archive. However, the memoranda and orders that support the rule 1:28 decisions appear in the unpublished decisions publication.

Unpublished Decisions. The memoranda and orders that support the decisions pursuant to rule 1:28 of the Appeals Court released since February 26, 2008, are available, without charge, in this publication.

Advance Sheets. The slip opinions are superseded by publication of the advance sheets. They appear on this Web site each Monday. The advance sheets (both printed and electronic versions) include the official headnotes, the same pagination that will later appear in the bound volumes, and any subsequent amendments and substantive corrections made to the opinions between the time of release and the publication of the bound volumes. A subscription to the electronic advance sheets may be obtained on the Web site, or by calling 1-800-344-5009. The opinions, without headnotes added by the Reporter, are available, at no charge, in the "Opinion Archive."