Judging Civil Justice

A trenchant critique of developments in civil justice that questions modern orthodoxy and points to a downgrading of civil justice.

Hazel Genn (Author)

9780521118941, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 15 October 2009

228 pages
21.6 x 14 x 1.7 cm, 0.44 kg

'Hazel Genn does not pull her punches. [The lectures] should be required reading especially for policy makers in government and for the senior judiciary.' Michael Zander QC, New Law Journal

The civil justice system supports social order and economic activity, but a number of factors over the last decade have created a situation in which the value of civil justice is being undermined and the civil courts are in a state of dilapidation. For the 2008 Hamlyn Lectures, Dame Hazel Genn discusses reforms to civil justice in England and around the world over the last decade in the context of escalating expenditure on criminal justice and vanishing civil trials. In critically assessing the claims and practice of mediation for civil disputes, she questions whether diverting cases out of the public courts and into private dispute resolution promotes access to justice, looks critically at the changed expectations of the judiciary in civil justice and points to the need for a better understanding of how judges 'do justice'.

1. Introduction: what is civil justice for?
2. Civil justice: how much is enough?
3. ADR and civil justice: what's justice got to do with it?
4. Judges and civil justice
5. Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Legal system: general [LNA], Law & society [LAQ], Civil codes / Civil law [LAFD]