Small claims and access to justice

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24215/25916386e159

Keywords:

small claims , access to justice , incentives, models

Abstract

How to understand small claims and why they are, when they are, an access to justice problem? How to evaluate judicial strategies that try to address this problem? This paper explores these questions and offers some answers, which can be summarised as follows. It is proposed to understand small claims as those cases where there is no positive incentive to sue because of low expected benefits or other factors that I will highlight. Small claims will be a problem if it would be desirable for them to have access to the courts. Judicial systems tend to address this problem in two ways, either by simplification or by unification. Such strategies, I will argue, need to be evaluated for their ability to induce desirable behaviour, which requires theoretical models that take into account how people actually behave.

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Author Biography

Alejo Joaquín Giles, Universidad de Girona

Lawyer graduated from the National University of La Plata. Doctor in Philosophy of Law from the Universities of Genoa and Girona. Visiting Professor at the University of Girona.

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Published

2023-12-27

How to Cite

Giles, A. J. (2023). Small claims and access to justice. Anales De La Facultad De Ciencias Juridicas Y Sociales De La Universidad Nacional De La Plata, 20(53), 159. https://doi.org/10.24215/25916386e159

Issue

Section

Derecho Procesal Civil