The Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, was awarded £500 damages yesterday against the RUC arising out of a "curfew" the night before a Twelfth of July Orange march along Belfast's Lower Ormeau Road in 1996.
The West Belfast MP was not in court to hear Judge Patrick Markey say he was satisfied Mr Adams had sustained substantial damage.
The judge said: "He was not a mere passer-by, but an elected public representative exercising his calling in seeking to monitor a situation of public concern.
"His capacity to do so was impeded by the barring of his way by the police. This impediment was deliberate and aimed at him, not at other public representatives, because the police thought that course appropriate."
At the hearing two years ago Mr Adams said police hemmed him in for three hours before allowing him through a cordon.
Judge Markey, in a reserved 35-page judgment at Belfast County Court, dismissed Mr Adams's claim in respect of assault, false imprisonment or an abuse of authority by police in restraining his movements.
But he held the MP was entitled to damages, under the heading of "public nuisance", and awarded £500.
After the verdict Mr Adams called for a fundamental review of the criminal justice system in the North.
"This case has again highlighted the deeply flawed nature of the North's criminal justice system and the arbitrary abuse of power exercised by the RUC," he said.