Fundamental Principles of Civil Procedure: Order Out of Chaos

Abstract

There is a wide array of fundamental and important principles of civil justice. The main suggestion has been that the leading principles of civil justice might usefully be arranged under these four corner-stones of civil justice: Access to Legal Advice and Dispute-Resolution Systems; Equality and Fairness between the Parties; A Focused and Speedy Process; and Adjudicators of Integrity. Jurists and scholars of procedure will acknowledge the need to identify fundamental norms, but outside the hallowed halls of international colloquia or the court system, general principle is not widely respected. It is regarded with suspicion, especially by politicians and officials who might feel threatened and fettered by such generalities. The European Convention on Human Rights was a post-second world war response to the horrific collapse of all civilised values. Therefore, custodians of true civil justice should not become complacent. As our democratic systems become more and more hollow, procedural rights can provide some concrete protection for ordinary people. Another value of emphasising general principles is that they are an antidote to the numbing and bewildering complexity, detail, and technicality which characterise many national procedural rule books. Finally, international scholarly discussion thrives on fundamental principle. As we continue to debate the central procedural principles, students of civil justice will be standing on the shoulders of those celebrated jurists who have already contributed to this unending task by examining matters of first principle. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

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