No Longer an Island: European Influence on English Civil Procedure
18 Pages Posted: 27 Sep 2013
Date Written: September 24, 2013
Abstract
English civil justice is no longer insulated from external influence. But the strength of that influence ranges from fundamental, to moderate, to the symbolic and hence practically insignificant. First, the most fundamental change occurred when European human rights law induced the UK to destroy the long-standing judicial office of the Lord Chancellor and to replace the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords with the United Kingdom Supreme Court. Secondly, a moderate degree of influence occurred when the European decision in the Gambazzi case (2009) instructed fellow European courts to be wary of over-severe and disproportionate English sanctions against failure to comply with court orders. Thirdly, the European Directive on Mediation (2008), although symbolically influential in some European jurisdictions, was regarded in England as little more than signal the need for Member states to take seriously mediation. Within England the Directive, although not resisted, did little more than make minor adjustments to established mediation practice in the statistically insignificant field of 'cross-border mediation'.
Keywords: civil procedure, European law, human rights law, impact on English legal institutions and practices
JEL Classification: K33, K4, K40, K41
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation