The minutes in which central banks justify their decisions vary considerably in length, and the same also applies to supreme court judgements. This column proposes criteria for ‘good’ justifications and asks whether these criteria are met in practice. It concludes that the Swedish Riksbank could look at the way the UK Supreme Court’s justifications have developed, the European Court of Justice could learn something from Paul Romer’s insistence on clear language, and the European Court of Human Rights Grand Chamber might draw inspiration from the length and clarity of the Central Bank of Iceland’s minutes.