Goals of Civil Justice and Civil Procedure in the Contemporary World: Global Developments – Towards Harmonisation (and Back)

Abstract

Some of the most thrilling topics of civil procedure are those that revisit its very roots. What are the goals of civil justice? This question seems to be simple only on the surface, viewed from the closed perspective of national law and jurisprudence. However, the moment when we embark on a comparative journey, the adventure starts. How do the goals of civil justice differ from country to country? Are they compatible? Is it possible at all to speak of the universal tasks of civil justice in the contemporary world? And, if not, are we making a mistake when we consider that ‘judges’ and ‘courts’ have the same meaning and same importance in all cultures? In this chapter, the author presents a synthetic study on these issues, based on the reports that present a particular approach to the goals of civil justice and civil procedure from the angle of a representative set of different contemporary legal traditions and systems.