Failures of American Civil Justice in International Perspective

This book provides a comparative-critical introduction to civil justice systems in the United States, Germany and Korea.

James R. Maxeiner (Author), Gyooho Lee (With), Armin Weber (With), Philip K. Howard (Foreword by)

9781107009936, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 29 August 2011

342 pages, 16 b/w illus. 10 tables
23.5 x 15.8 x 2.2 cm, 0.6 kg

"Failures of American Civil Justice in International Perspective is a fundamental and innovative work, which the comparative law discussion enduringly enriches and from whose teachings every reader will receive a great profit."
- Felix Maultzsch, Juristenzeitung

Civil justice in the United States is neither civil nor just. Instead it embodies a maxim that the American legal system is a paragon of legal process which assures its citizens a fair and equal treatment under the law. Long have critics recognized the system's failings while offering abundant criticism but few solutions. This book provides a comparative-critical introduction to civil justice systems in the United States, Germany and Korea. It shows the shortcomings of the American system and compares them with German and Korean successes in implementing the rule of law. The author argues that these shortcomings could easily be fixed if the American legal systems were open to seeing how other legal systems' civil justice processes handle cases more efficiently and fairly. Far from being a treatise for specialists, this book is an introductory text for civil justice in the three aforementioned legal systems.

1. Civil justice: an introduction
2. Legal method: thinking like a lawyer
3. Lawyers and legal systems: access to justice
4. The court: jurisdiction and applicable law
5. Pleading: the matter in controversy
6. Process: the right to be heard
7. Judgments, appeals and outcomes
8. Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Laws of Specific jurisdictions [LN], Law [L], Comparative politics [JPB]