This book shows the surprising dynamism of the field of civil procedure through its examination of a cross section of recent developments within civil procedure from around the world. It explores the field through specific approaches to its study, within specific legal systems, and within discrete sub-fields of civil procedure. The book reflects the latest research and conveys the dynamism and innovations of modern civil procedure - by field, method and system. The book’s introductory chapters lay the groundwork for researchers to appreciate the flux and change within the field. The concluding chapters bring the many different identified innovations and developments together to show the field's ability to adapt to modern circumstances, while retaining its coherence even across different legal systems, traditions, fields and analytic approaches. Specifically, in this book the presence of dynamism is explored in the legal systems of the EU, France, the US, Brazil, Australia, the UK and China. So too that dynamism is explored in the contributions’ analyses and discussions of the changes or need for change of specific aspects of civil procedure including litigation costs, class actions, derivative actions, pleadings, and res judicata. Furthermore, most of the individual contributions may be considered to be comparative analyses of their respective subjects and, when considered as a whole, the book presents the dynamism of civil procedure in comparative perspective. Those discrete and aggregated comparative analyses permit us to better understand the dynamism in civil procedure – for change in the abstract can be less visible and its significance and impact less evident. While similar conclusions may have been drawn through examinations in isolation, employing comparative analytic methods provided a richer analysis and any identified need for change is correspondingly advanced through comparative analysis. Furthermore, if that analysis leads to a conclusion that change is necessary then comparative law may provide pertinent examples for such change - as well as methodologies for successfully transplanting any such changes. In other words, as this book so well reflects, comparative law may itself usefully contribute to dynamism in civil procedure. This has long been a raison d'être of comparative law and, as clear from this book’s contributions, in this particular time and field of study we find that it is very likely to achieve its lofty promise.

Globalization of legal traffic and the inherent necessity of having to litigate in foreign courts or to enforce judgments in other countries considerably complicate civil proceedings due to great differences in civil procedure. This may consequently jeopardize access to justice. This triggers the debate on the need for harmonization of civil procedure. In recent years, this debate has gained in importance because of new legislative and practical developments both at the European and the global level. This book discusses the globalization and harmonization of civil procedure from the angles of legal history, law and economics and (European) policy. Attention is paid to the interaction with private law and private international law, and European and global projects that aim at the harmonization of civil procedure or providing guidelines for fair and efficient adjudication. It further includes contributions that focus on globalization and harmonization of civil procedure from the viewpoint of eight different jurisdictions. This book is an unique combination of theory and practice and valuable for academic researchers in the area of civil procedure, private international law, international law as well as policy makers (national and EU), lawyers, judges and bailiffs.

This book offers an analysis of the current trends and developments in Nordic civil litigation and is divided into four main parts. In the first part a picture of the current civil litigation landscape is provided by focusing on whether there is a truly Nordic form of civil litigation, the current state of Nordic civil litigation, the recent major reforms of civil procedure legislation and the effects of Europeanization. In the second part, the way rules on court-connected mediation have been implemented and practiced in the Nordic countries is discussed. The authors offer their insights on why court-connected mediation has not been fully embraced by Nordic lawyers and the Nordic approach to this type of mediation is contrasted with the Austrian and German approaches. In the third part, recent developments affecting access to justice in the Nordic countries are discussed. Among the topics are changes in legal aid schemes, the impact of recent civil procedure law reforms, hindrances for larger companies to use litigation as a method of dispute resolution and differences in costs and delays. Additionally, Alternative Dispute Resolution and Class or Group Actions are explored as methods to enhance access to justice. The potential adverse effects of Alternative Dispute Resolution and Group Actions are also examined, both in a Nordic and European context. In the final part, conclusions are drawn from both historical and future-oriented perspectives.

In modern times, the civil procedural laws of every country have been influenced by those of other countries. For instance, the Japanese legal system was itself influenced by Chinese culture and later developed independently under the policy of national isolation. And since 1868, Japan has modernized its civil procedural law, using French, German, and American law as its models. Japan has recently tried to contribute by way of legislative and legal educational assistance to other Asian countries (Vietnam, Cambodia, etc.) in civil and procedural law. The civil procedural laws of different countries should be expected to harmonize with each other in the global society. This book is the outcome of the Congress of the International Association of Procedural Law at the Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, Japan. In this book, various outstanding contributors are treating a contemporary legal problem in their own civil procedural systems, including examples from India, the Netherlands, Korea, Italy, China, Japan, etc.

China's ever-expanding commercial influence has attracted global attention on how its civil and commercial disputes are resolved. This compelling new book, Dispute Resolution in China, offers a detailed examination of the elements in the Chinese legal system and the relevant reforms to the multiplicity of approaches to civil and commercial disputes in China today. This book reveals how civil litigation, commercial arbitration, mediation, and their hybrid dispute resolution have distinctly responded to, reformed, and developed in the context of China’s transformational economic growth, societal development, and international interaction in the last two decades. It situates these developments and continued experimentation within a unique hybrid of empirical, contextual, and comparative analytical framework, while paving productive pathways towards the future. This book argues that, rather than being a legal project, China’s civil and commercial dispute resolution system is essentially a social development project, which distinguishes the Chinese approach to civil justice reform from contemporary civil justice movements elsewhere. Among the primary methods of dispute resolution, commercial arbitration in China today uniquely transcending the traditional socio-political constraints, its reform has developed in favor of market-oriented considerations and shaped by China’s socio-economic dynamics and internationalization needs. By contrast, civil litigation and mediation being more instrumentalist in nature, their reform is socio-politically embedded and continues to prioritize social stability. This book also shines a fresh light on comparative assessments of top-down and bottom-up changes in China’s dispute resolution discourse, as well as on how China speaks to international dispute resolution systems. Original and rich in its analysis, this book will be essential reading and invaluable reference tool for scholars with a focus on Chinese law, comparative and international dispute resolution, and on broader legal, institutional, economic, social, political and cultural dimensions of dispute resolution development.

National civil justice systems are deeply rooted in national legal cultures and traditions. However, in the past few decades they have been increasingly influenced by integration processes at the regional, supra-national and international level. As a by-product of the emergence of economic and political unions and globalisation processes there is pressure to harmonise or even unify the way in which national civil justice systems operate. In an attempt to create a ‘genuine area of justice’, new unified procedures are being developed, which operate in parallel with national civil procedures, and sometimes even strive to replace them. As a reaction to the forces that endeavour to harmonise and unify procedural laws and practices, an opposing trend is gaining momentum: one that insists on diversity and pluralism of national civil procedures. This book focuses on the evolution of procedural reforms in various jurisdictions and the ongoing transformation of national civil justice systems.

Justice and Efficiency in Mega-Litigation explores the phenomenon of extremely long-running, resource-intensive civil litigation known as 'mega-litigation'. Such litigation challenges the courts to reconcile the objectives of justice and efficiency – for the parties to the case and for the community. Drawing on interviews with judges of the courts of England and Wales, and of Australia, this book shows how judges have responded to these challenges. It situates mega-litigation within broader developments in civil procedure and case management, as well as theoretical debates about the role of courts and the purpose of civil procedure. The book highlights the importance of intensive, creative and flexible case management; focus on the issues in dispute; and, ultimately, each judge's expert intuition.

In this book, James R. Maxeiner takes on the challenge of demonstrating that historically American law makers did consider a statutory methodology as part of formulating laws. In the nineteenth century, when the people wanted laws they could understand, lawyers inflicted judge-made, statute-destroying, common law on them. Maxeiner offers the cure for common law, in the form of sensible statute law. Building on this historical evidence, Maxeiner shows how rule-making in civil law jurisdictions in other countries makes for a far more equitable legal system. Sensible statute laws fit together: one statute governs, as opposed to several laws that even lawyers have trouble disentangling. In a statute law system, lawmakers make laws for the common good in sensible procedures, and judges apply sensible laws and do not make them. This book shows how such a system works in Germany and would be a solution for the American legal system as well.

"The law governing international civil litigation has changed dramatically in the five years since the fourth edition was published. Recent decisions of the United States Supreme Court have had a significant impact on fields such as personal jurisdiction, sovereign immunity, and extraterritoriality. This current edition reflects those changes and raises important questions about the broader implications of those decisions ... Developments in this field are of course not limited to the United States. While the book still focuses primarily on United States law, the current edition deliberately incorporates more excerpts, more extensive references, and more questions concerning foreign law, especially European law. In part, this reflects an important reality--that successful practice in this area, even for the United States lawyer, requires a keen understanding of other legal systems". -- PREFACE OF THE FIFTH EDITON.