Civil Justice Reconsidered

Abstract

This book seeks to provide a fresh perspective on a familiar subject: civil litigation. It begins by providing an overview of civil litigation, explaining its benefits, and then identifying the features of a well-working civil litigation system. It then evaluates both alleged and actual shortcomings of the existing litigation system. The analysis here further argues that the civil litigation system sees both too few cases and too much litigation. That is, due to prohibitive litigation costs, many with valid yet modest legal claims cannot afford to litigate, while those who enjoy access to the courts have incentives to over-litigate by imposing costs on their legal adversaries. To address these twin problems, this book proposes a number of concrete reforms to lower the costs of litigation and, in so doing, to promote greater access to the courts.