Introduction to Legal Systems
LL109
W11 – SHIFTS IN CIVIL JUSTICE:
ACCESS TO JUSTICE
LECTURE OUTLINE
Civil Justice and the Courts,
Lord Woolf’s reforms,
Evaluating ADR,
Legal Aid cuts and access to Justice.
CIVIL JUSTICE AND THE COURTS
‘[The civil justice system] responds to the social need to give full and
effective value to the substantive rights of members of society which
would otherwise be diminished or denuded of worth or even reality’. – Sir
Jack Jacob in his ‘Reform of Procedural Law’.
Civil law is anything outside of criminal law.
It is about defining the rights and remedies of citizens if these are
breached.
A wide range of parties are included, e.g. citizens, corporations and the
govt.
Civil law covers a large variety of disputes:
o Faulty goods,
o Family breakdown,
o Problems with landlords,
o Commercial disputes,
o Actions against the police.
, Introduction to Legal Systems
LL109
Litigation is involved; family disputes (6%)
Social issues clear in the fact that there are no resolutions in a large
amount of these trials. Only 16% end up in trial meaning it is rare in the
civil justice system.
Think of the functions of the trial (refer to W5 lecture):
o To settle disputes between parties, (is this the case now?)
o To advance a particular policy or political agenda
o To hold the legal system and judges to account (proto-democratic
site)
o To facilitate the development of the law
o To articulate public values
o To develop the advocacy skills of lawyers
o To guide future behaviour/enable bargaining in the shadow of the
law
The mechanisms of dispute resolution seem to interlink with 35% of cases
being resolved at the pre-trial stage.
Lord Woolf’s reforms
Argues that there are cheaper alternatives to dispute resolutions that
will prove more effective for litigants,
He evaluated ADR.
Reviewed the civil justice system in the 1990s.
Interim and final reports called ‘Access to Justice’ in 1995-6.
Civil Procedure Rules 1998
Largest reform undertaken in 100 years in the CJS.
Genn (2009).
Report focused on disputes at pre-trial stage (35% of the CJS).
LL109
W11 – SHIFTS IN CIVIL JUSTICE:
ACCESS TO JUSTICE
LECTURE OUTLINE
Civil Justice and the Courts,
Lord Woolf’s reforms,
Evaluating ADR,
Legal Aid cuts and access to Justice.
CIVIL JUSTICE AND THE COURTS
‘[The civil justice system] responds to the social need to give full and
effective value to the substantive rights of members of society which
would otherwise be diminished or denuded of worth or even reality’. – Sir
Jack Jacob in his ‘Reform of Procedural Law’.
Civil law is anything outside of criminal law.
It is about defining the rights and remedies of citizens if these are
breached.
A wide range of parties are included, e.g. citizens, corporations and the
govt.
Civil law covers a large variety of disputes:
o Faulty goods,
o Family breakdown,
o Problems with landlords,
o Commercial disputes,
o Actions against the police.
, Introduction to Legal Systems
LL109
Litigation is involved; family disputes (6%)
Social issues clear in the fact that there are no resolutions in a large
amount of these trials. Only 16% end up in trial meaning it is rare in the
civil justice system.
Think of the functions of the trial (refer to W5 lecture):
o To settle disputes between parties, (is this the case now?)
o To advance a particular policy or political agenda
o To hold the legal system and judges to account (proto-democratic
site)
o To facilitate the development of the law
o To articulate public values
o To develop the advocacy skills of lawyers
o To guide future behaviour/enable bargaining in the shadow of the
law
The mechanisms of dispute resolution seem to interlink with 35% of cases
being resolved at the pre-trial stage.
Lord Woolf’s reforms
Argues that there are cheaper alternatives to dispute resolutions that
will prove more effective for litigants,
He evaluated ADR.
Reviewed the civil justice system in the 1990s.
Interim and final reports called ‘Access to Justice’ in 1995-6.
Civil Procedure Rules 1998
Largest reform undertaken in 100 years in the CJS.
Genn (2009).
Report focused on disputes at pre-trial stage (35% of the CJS).
