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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Access to Justice or Access to States Courtss Justice in Europe? The Directive 2008/52/EC on Civil and Commercial Mediation

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Modern societies are very much linked to the idea of litigation. A hidden rule seems to exist in the sense that the more advanced a society is the highest level of litigation it suffers. This increase in the level of litigation amounts to a sort of “litigation explosion” that has traditionally been linked to State courts. This explosion is said to put the whole judiciary system under pressure in so far the volume of disputes brought before State courts increases, the proceedings become more and more lengthy and the costs incurred in such proceedings also augment. The goal to tackle this explosion underpins most of the reforms that modern national civil procedure laws have suffered in many countries for the last two decades and fuels the growing support of ADR devices in many parts of the world in an effort to make the procedure system more efficient and affordable for the parties. This explosion was first reported in USA and now is fully ascertainable in many parts of the world where litigation grows steadily. In Europe it actually entails growing concerns about the maintenance of the level of quality of the judiciary system despite the budgetary efforts done for many years by the several European Governments in their judicial system, and consequently therewith of the full preservation of the principle of access to justice in the continent. This situation raises the issue of ascertaining to what extent the current situation of considering the principle of access to justice solely referred to access to State courts justice may be maintained or a move towards a broader understanding of this principle in the sense of embodying a joint reference to State courts and ADR devices is under way. The solution provided to this question will tailor the notion of justice in the XXI Century.