Steele, Jenny; Boom, Willem H. van --- "Mass Justice and its Challenges" [2011] ELECD 622; in Steele, Jenny; van Boom, H. Willem (eds), "Mass Justice" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2011)

Book Title: Mass Justice

Editor(s): Steele, Jenny; van Boom, H. Willem

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781849805063

Section: Chapter 1

Section Title: Mass Justice and its Challenges

Author(s): Steele, Jenny; Boom, Willem H. van

Number of pages: 26

Extract:

1. Mass justice and its challenges
Jenny Steele and Willem H. van Boom

1. INTRODUCTION

Our legal world is one of growing "massification". Standard contracts
affect multiple customers, mass torts (whether arising from product inju-
ries or disastrous events) involve numerous victims and sometimes numer-
ous tortfeasors; environmental problems affect communities as a whole
and may have scattered or hard to trace effects; and insolvencies concern
a collective of creditors. Various pressures can deepen the impact of these
developments, including the economic feasibility of mass rather than indi-
vidual representation on the claimants' side, given the economies of scale
enjoyed by many defendants. At the same time, the emergence of shared
goals and a common interest in deterrence or "peace-keeping" functions
of civil liability may create a demand for collective representation, in
some instances leading to a blurring of the boundaries between public and
private law as collective solutions take on a regulatory or at least "public
interest" flavour. The motivation for this collection lies in a recognition
that the search for "mass" civil justice throws up novel challenges for
legal systems which have so far barely been addressed. For example, the
ambition to deliver or secure "mass justice" raises questions about the
possibility of fair representation of all individual interests in the context
of settlements reached on behalf of a group; about questions of access
and civil procedure; and about the very goal or purpose of "compensa-
tion". Inherently, the balance between individual and collective interests,
and between ...