Taking Justice Seriously: the problem of courts overload and the new model of judicial process

This article traces a profound world-wide metamorphosis of the judicial process. It analyses recent procedural legislations adopted in the United Kingdom, the Unites States of America, France, Germany, Spain and Italy fashioned to address the problems of unreasonable delay and access to justice. The main tendencies that emerge from the analysis outline the passage from an authoritarian model of adjudication to a more cooperative approach based on flexibility of the time schedule and availability of alternative choices. Moreover, an instrument generally adopted to reduce the demand for justice is the selection of meritorious cases on the base of the conformity to precedents. It is, indeed, a procedural law development that may change the perspective on the civil law-common law divide.