Tokyo, Nov 28 : Japan's Supreme Court has set new rules on the permanent preservation of trial records as "assets shared by the people," following revelations that the documents of some high-profile trials had been lost at courts across the country.

The top court said that the new rules will be effective as of January next year,reports Xinhua news agency.  The move came after the discarding of high-profile trial records came to light, including all records for the 1997 serial attacks on children in the city of Kobe, in which a 14-year-old boy killed two children and injured three others.