Sending a request to the CCJ simple web service

To access the data provided by the County Court Judgement (CCJ) simple web service, you must send a request via a URL containing:

On setting up your account, our web service support team will supply you with a consumer key and a consumer secret; these form your authentication details.

A consumer key is your unique identifier, and identifies you to the CCJ simple web service; the consumer secret confirms that you own the consumer key and therefore verifies that you have permission to use the key. This dual validation process, which utilises OAuth protocols, makes the authentication process extremely secure.

To conduct a successful search the request URL (search object) must contain the following parameter values as a minimum:

Request parameters, their data types and permissible formats, are highlighted in the table below, with supporting notes:

Authentication parameters

Parameter Data Type Possible Formats Notes
consumer key Alphanumeric a-z, A-Z, 0-9
40 character string
User must be authenticated for every search
consumer secret Alphanumeric a-z, A-Z, 0-9
40 character string
User must be authenticated for every search

Search object parameters

Parameter Data Type Possible Formats Notes
title Alpha Mr; Mrs; Miss; Ms;
20 characters max
Optional value; title can be used to determine gender if only an initial has been supplied as the forename value; this provides a greater likelihood that responses are related to the search.
forename Alpha a-z, A-Z, -
70 characters max
Required value. An initial is the minimum requirement.
middleName Alpha a-z, A-Z, -
32 characters max
Optional value; middle name can help improve the likelihood of a response being related to the search.
surname Alpha a-z, A-Z, -
35 characters max
Required value
address1 Alphanumeric a-z, A-Z, 0-9,
64 characters max
When entering an address, postcode must be provided, and is the minimum value which can be entered.
An address (full or partial) must be provided with every request.
address2 Alphanumeric a-z, A-Z, 0-9, -
64 characters max
As Above
address3 Alphanumeric a-z, A-Z, 0-9, -
64 characters max
As Above
address4 Alphanumeric a-z, A-Z, 0-9, -
64 characters max
As Above
address5 Alphanumeric a-z, A-Z, 0-9, -
64 characters max
As above
postcode Alphanumeric a-z, A-Z, 0-9, -
7 characters min
8 characters max
Postcode is the minimum value required when providing an address.

An address (full or partial) must be provided with every request.
requestReference Alphanumeric a-z, A-Z, 0-9, - , _
32 characters max
The requestReference parameter allows you to provide a unique reference for each search you conduct.
alias Boolean operator True/False (False by default) This is a data matching option.

When turned on, the alias match function will provide matches for CCJ records containing commonly accepted alternatives to the forename supplied. For example, searches for ‘Elizabeth’ will also retrieve records for ‘Liz’ or ‘Lizzy’ where appropriate.
fuzzy Boolean operator True/False (True by default) This is a data matching option.

A likeness match, which allows for misspelt names or names with slight variations to be matched.

For example matches for Matthew will be returned, even if ‘Mathew’, ‘Natthew’ or ‘Mathee’ are searched for. Names must be ≥ 5 characters for this option to initiate.
strictMiddle Boolean Operator True/False (False by default) This is a data matching option.

By default, records both with and without middle name are returned. This option ensures that only records which contain the same middle name as provided in the request are returned.

This option allows you to narrow your search and filter out records which may not pertain to the original request.