Procedural Law as an Exercise in Reconciling Public Interest and Individual Rights: The Example of Res Judicata

Abstract

Res judicata is a quasi-universal principle, present in every modern European legal system. Although it is understood in very different ways in Civil Law and Common Law traditions, it plays a remarkably similar role in both. This is notably due to the fact that res judicata is based on overarching aims present in all procedural legal systems: the public interest in ensuring the finality of litigation and the authority of courts, and the protection of litigants’ rights. It is necessary to take into account both objectives in order to understand the doctrine of res judicata. These aims sometimes conflict and each legal system attempts to reconcile them within its specific rules concerning res judicata. A comparative analysis based on English, French, Italian, Spanish and European Union law shows how the choices made in each system express a balancing act between them.