Access to Justice : The English Experience with Small Claims
The note reviews England's experience on the potential of small claims procedures in expanding access to justice, which allow legal redress in situations where formal litigation would be too costly. But, while these procedures offer access to...
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| Format: | Brief |
| Language: | English |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2012
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2000/05/828316/access-justice-english-experience-small-claims http://hdl.handle.net/10986/11433 |
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okr-10986-114332021-06-14T11:02:14Z Access to Justice : The English Experience with Small Claims Baldwin, John ACCESS TO JUSTICE ASSURANCE CIVIL ACTIONS CIVIL COURTS CIVIL JUSTICE SYSTEM CIVIL LITIGATION COURT DECISIONS COURT PROCEDURES COURT PROCEEDINGS COURTS INFLATION INTEGRITY JUDGES LAWYERS LEGAL DISPUTES LEGAL INSTITUTIONS LEGAL REPRESENTATION LITIGATION SMALL CLAIMS COURTS TRIALS WITNESSES PUBLIC SECTOR CLAIMS LEGAL RECOURSE LITIGATION DISPUTE RESOLUTION ACCESS TO JUSTICE SMALL CLAIMS COURTS LEGAL ADVISORS INFORMAL SETTLEMENTS LAW ENFORCEMENT CIVIL LAW SYSTEMS The note reviews England's experience on the potential of small claims procedures in expanding access to justice, which allow legal redress in situations where formal litigation would be too costly. But, while these procedures offer access to justice, they also illustrate the difficulties that informal dispute resolution mechanisms can pose. Advantages of small claims procedures reveal that most lay litigants favor informal hearings over formal courts processes, losing parties are not required to pay the costs of the winning parties, and, by and large, judges seem to be willing, and able to adapt to the informality of small claims hearings. Difficulties however address the inadequacies of preliminary legal advice in the absence of relevant evidence, or witnesses, as well as the wide variations in judges' approaches, who expressed different attitudes in the application of ordinary law in small claims. Moreover, both the undefined role of lawyers in informal hearings, and ineffective enforcement of judgments remain unclear, and problematic. It is suggested that if greater access to justice is the objective, the key is to design a civil justice system that provides costs, and procedures, realistically, and proportionately to the issue in dispute. 2012-08-13T15:03:29Z 2012-08-13T15:03:29Z 2000-05 http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2000/05/828316/access-justice-english-experience-small-claims http://hdl.handle.net/10986/11433 English PREM Notes; No. 40 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/ World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research :: Brief Publications & Research Europe and Central Asia United Kingdom |
| repository_type |
Digital Repository |
| institution_category |
Foreign Institution |
| institution |
Digital Repositories |
| building |
World Bank Open Knowledge Repository |
| collection |
World Bank |
| language |
English |
| topic |
ACCESS TO JUSTICE ASSURANCE CIVIL ACTIONS CIVIL COURTS CIVIL JUSTICE SYSTEM CIVIL LITIGATION COURT DECISIONS COURT PROCEDURES COURT PROCEEDINGS COURTS INFLATION INTEGRITY JUDGES LAWYERS LEGAL DISPUTES LEGAL INSTITUTIONS LEGAL REPRESENTATION LITIGATION SMALL CLAIMS COURTS TRIALS WITNESSES PUBLIC SECTOR CLAIMS LEGAL RECOURSE LITIGATION DISPUTE RESOLUTION ACCESS TO JUSTICE SMALL CLAIMS COURTS LEGAL ADVISORS INFORMAL SETTLEMENTS LAW ENFORCEMENT CIVIL LAW SYSTEMS |
| spellingShingle |
ACCESS TO JUSTICE ASSURANCE CIVIL ACTIONS CIVIL COURTS CIVIL JUSTICE SYSTEM CIVIL LITIGATION COURT DECISIONS COURT PROCEDURES COURT PROCEEDINGS COURTS INFLATION INTEGRITY JUDGES LAWYERS LEGAL DISPUTES LEGAL INSTITUTIONS LEGAL REPRESENTATION LITIGATION SMALL CLAIMS COURTS TRIALS WITNESSES PUBLIC SECTOR CLAIMS LEGAL RECOURSE LITIGATION DISPUTE RESOLUTION ACCESS TO JUSTICE SMALL CLAIMS COURTS LEGAL ADVISORS INFORMAL SETTLEMENTS LAW ENFORCEMENT CIVIL LAW SYSTEMS Baldwin, John Access to Justice : The English Experience with Small Claims |
| geographic_facet |
Europe and Central Asia United Kingdom |
| relation |
PREM Notes; No. 40 |
| description |
The note reviews England's
experience on the potential of small claims procedures in
expanding access to justice, which allow legal redress in
situations where formal litigation would be too costly. But,
while these procedures offer access to justice, they also
illustrate the difficulties that informal dispute resolution
mechanisms can pose. Advantages of small claims procedures
reveal that most lay litigants favor informal hearings over
formal courts processes, losing parties are not required to
pay the costs of the winning parties, and, by and large,
judges seem to be willing, and able to adapt to the
informality of small claims hearings. Difficulties however
address the inadequacies of preliminary legal advice in the
absence of relevant evidence, or witnesses, as well as the
wide variations in judges' approaches, who expressed
different attitudes in the application of ordinary law in
small claims. Moreover, both the undefined role of lawyers
in informal hearings, and ineffective enforcement of
judgments remain unclear, and problematic. It is suggested
that if greater access to justice is the objective, the key
is to design a civil justice system that provides costs, and
procedures, realistically, and proportionately to the issue
in dispute. |
| format |
Publications & Research :: Brief |
| author |
Baldwin, John |
| author_facet |
Baldwin, John |
| author_sort |
Baldwin, John |
| title |
Access to Justice : The English Experience with Small Claims |
| title_short |
Access to Justice : The English Experience with Small Claims |
| title_full |
Access to Justice : The English Experience with Small Claims |
| title_fullStr |
Access to Justice : The English Experience with Small Claims |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Access to Justice : The English Experience with Small Claims |
| title_sort |
access to justice : the english experience with small claims |
| publisher |
World Bank, Washington, DC |
| publishDate |
2012 |
| url |
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2000/05/828316/access-justice-english-experience-small-claims http://hdl.handle.net/10986/11433 |
| _version_ |
1764416714540318720 |