Some papers, including the Bradford Telegraph and Argus, have been forced to drop some court coverage as a result of the charges, which it estimated could amount to £40,000 a year.

But Justice Secretary Jack Straw has now ruled that newspapers should be able to access registers containing the outcome of criminal cases as well as details of upcoming court cases free of charge.

The move follows intense lobbying by the Society of Editors, the Newspaper Society and other industry bodies.

In a Commons statement, Mr Straw announced he was abolishing the legal right of magistrates' courts to impose charges for the lists that has existed since 1989.

"Media will now be better able to report accurately and factually, as they strive to do, on proceedings in magistrates' courts," he said.

"This move will help increase confidence in the criminal justice system and deter offending. It also supports compliance with obligations under the European Convention of Human Rights to ensure that trials are held in public."

As reported on HoldtheFrontPage last month, in the longer term courts will be expected to publish their registers electronically, a less resource-intensive means of production.

Society of Editors executive director Bob Satchwell welcomed the news. He said: "At last someone has grasped the nettle and made a sensible decision which will help not only the media but will help maintain public confidence in the legal system."

Telegraph and Argus editor Perry Austin-Clarke added: "I am delighted that Mr Straw has listened to the common sense of our representations and abolished these charges.

"We were forced to stop publishing the court registers because it would have cost the T&A tens of thousands of pounds every year. But this information must be freely available to allow justice to be seen to be done through the medium of local newspapers, which have been the public's only easily-accessible source of the results of court cases for decades.

"I look forward to being able to publish them again in the near future."

The row first erupted in March when some court centres began levying photocopying charges of 50p a page for continuing to supply hard copies of the lists.

The T&A, which estimated that the cost of obtaining the lists from all 12 magistrates courts on its patch would be £40,000 a year, was one of the papers forced to drop some court coverage as a result.

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