Analyse Comparative / Comparative Perspectives

Abstract

Case management and managerial judging have been the subject of comparative procedural law for many years; as a matter of fact, case management as a legal institution is not foreign to either common law, European or Asian legal systems. However, most Latin American countries and procedural legal scholarship, with the prominent exception of Brazil, have not had a vigorous debate about its existence. More importantly, there is scarce empirical information regarding managerial judging and its operational dynamics in South American legal systems. The following article aims to fills that void by focusing on Chile’s legal system. In the last 20 years, Chile has initiated a series of procedural reforms that created new courts and radically changed procedural regulation by introducing oral proceedings and the concentrated trial hearing. This article presents original empirical evidence that shows the emergence of managerial judging practices at family and labour reformed courts. By identifying, characterising and examining in detail such practices, it is possible to understand when and how managerial judging takes place and to what end.