Paper on relief in small and simple matters in an age of austerity

A general report presented at the XVth World Congress of Procedural Law of the International Association of Procedural Law dedicated to effective judicicial relief and remedies in an age of austerity (Istanbul, 25-28 May) on relief in small and simple matters in an age of austerity, authored by Xandra Kramer (Erasmus University Rotterdam) and Shusuke Kakiuchi (University of Tokyo), is available as a working paper on SSRN.

Austerity measures have a big impact on the court financing, legal aid system, and civil procedure in general in many countries. This paper analyses the various types of procedures for small and simple matters from a comparative perspective, based on nineteen national reports, and explores the design and use of these procedures against the background of austerity. The main questions are whether, and if so, in what regard, austerity has affected the availability and use of simplified procedures in the jurisdictions involved in the research, and how these procedures tie in with austerity schemes.