The civil justice system supports social order and economic activity, but a number of factors over the last decade have created a situation in which the value of civil justice is being undermined and the civil courts are in a state of dilapidation. For the 2008 Hamlyn Lectures, Dame Hazel Genn discusses reforms to civil justice in England and around the world over the last decade in the context of escalating expenditure on criminal justice and vanishing civil trials. In critically assessing the claims and practice of mediation for civil disputes, she questions whether diverting cases out of the public courts and into private dispute resolution promotes access to justice, looks critically at the changed expectations of the judiciary in civil justice and points to the need for a better understanding of how judges 'do justice'.

This book proposes a principled approach to the regulation of dispute resolution. It covers dispute resolution mechanisms in all their varieties, including negotiation, mediation, conciliation, expert opinion, mini-trial, ombud procedures, arbitration and court adjudication. The authors present a transnational Guide for Regulating Dispute Resolution (GRDR). The regulatory principles contained in this Guide are based on a functional taxonomy of dispute resolution mechanisms, an open normative framework and a modular structure of regulatory topics. The Guide for Regulating Dispute Resolution is formulated and commented upon in a concise manner to assist legislators, policy-makers, professional associations, practitioners and academics in thinking about which solutions best suit local and regional circumstances. The aim of this book is to contribute to the understanding and development of the legal framework governing national and international dispute resolution. Theory, empirical research and regulatory models have been taken from the wealth of experience in 12 jurisdictions: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, England and Wales, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland and the United States of America. Experts with a background in academia, practice and law-making describe and analyse the regulatory framework and social reality of dispute resolution in these countries. On this basis the authors draw conclusions about policy choices, regulatory strategies and the practice of conflict resolution.

he publication in 1999 of Paths to Justice presented the results of the most wide-ranging survey of public use of and attitudes towards the civil justice system ever conducted in England and Wales by either an independent body or government agency. Paths to Justice in Scotland replicates that survey, focusing upon the experiences of ordinary citizens in Scotland as they grapple with the kinds of problems that could ultimately end in the civil courts. In an era of almost unprecedented interest in the resolution of civil disputes and in the procedures and public funding available to assist in the process there remains a lacuna in terms of knowledge of public use of the civil justice system in Scotland which this major survey sets out to fill. In it, the authors identify how often people experience problems for which there might be a legal solution and how they set about solving them. Revealing crucial differences in the approach taken to different kinds of potential legal problems, the study describes the factors that influence decisions about whether and where to seek advice about problems, and whether and when to go to law. In addition to exploring experiences of courts, tribunals and ADR processes, the study also provides important insights into public confidence in the courts and the judiciary in Scotland. For the first time the study reveals the public's perspective on access to civil justice and makes a significant contribution to debate concerning public experience, expectations and needs when trying to resolve justiciable problems.

Effective policy-making in the administration of justice requires a solid understanding of public behaviour. This book presents the results of the most wide-ranging survey ever conducted by an independent body or government agency into the experiences of ordinary citizens as they grapple with the sorts of problems that could ultimately end in the civil courts. Funded by the Nuffield Foundation, the survey identifies how often people experience problems for which there might be a legal solution and how they set about solving them.

Revealing crucial differences in the approach taken to different kinds of potential legal problems, the study describes the factors that influence decisions about whether and where to seek advice about problems, and whether and when to go to law. In addition to exploring experiences of courts, tribunals and ADR processes, the study also provides important insights into public confidence in the courts and the judiciary. For the first time the study reveals the public's perspective on access to civil justice and makes a significant contribution to debate about how far civil justice reforms coincide with public experience and expectations about resolving justiciable problems.

The civil justice system supports social order and economic activity, but a number of factors over the last decade have created a situation in which the value of civil justice is being undermined and the civil courts are in a state of dilapidation. For the 2008 Hamlyn Lectures, Dame Hazel Genn discusses reforms to civil justice in England and around the world over the last decade in the context of escalating expenditure on criminal justice and vanishing civil trials. In critically assessing the claims and practice of mediation for civil disputes, she questions whether diverting cases out of the public courts and into private dispute resolution promotes access to justice, looks critically at the changed expectations of the judiciary in civil justice and points to the need for a better understanding of how judges 'do justice'.