For a long time, civil justice was considered to be a purely national, conservative, and slow-changing topic. The texts collected in this book supply proof that this is no longer the case. These papers discuss civil justice from a European angle, concentrating on the age-old dichotomy between quality and efficiency. One of the developments that has triggered civil justice to become an international discipline is the establishment of the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice - better known by the acronym of its French name, the CEPEJ - on September 18, 2002 by the Council of Europe. The mandate of the CEPEJ is to analyze the results of the various judicial systems of the Member States of the Council of Europe, to identify the difficulties these systems encounter, to develop concrete ways to improve them, and to evaluate the functioning of these systems. Various papers in this volume address the CEPEJ and its work, as well as other issues of civil procedure in Europe, such as legal aid, alternative dispute resolution, and the influence of European developments on the reform of national civil justice systems. Consequently, the book provides an overview of the most recent ideas and developments in the field of civil justice. These ideas and developments show that although the values of the old tradition of European ius commune are still alive, they have been modified and expanded to such an extent that the organization of efficient civil justice systems has become a feasible option for national legislatures.
About the Author: C.H. (Remco) van Rhee is Professor of Comparative Civil Procedure and European Legal History at Maastricht University (Netherlands) and director of the program "Foundations and Principles of Civil Procedure in Europe" of the Ius Commune Research School. He studied law at the universities of Leiden and Edinburgh, History at the university of Leuven and Psychology at the university of Leiden. He defended his PhD thesis on early-modern civil procedure at the university of Leiden, where he received his doctorate in 1997. His PhD thesis was awarded the prix d'excellence of the Praemium Erasmianum Foundation in 1997. Van Rhee taught Roman Law at the University of Leiden (1991-1994) and Property and Civil Procedure at the University of Utrecht (1994-1998) before being appointed at Maastricht University. He served, amongst other things, as head of department, member of the science committee of the law faculty of Maastricht University, academic director of the Maastricht University European Law School Master program and chairman of the Education Board of the Maastricht University European Law School. He held visiting positions at various universities in Europe, the Americas, Asia and Africa. He is a member of the several editorial boards: "The Legal History Review"; "Pro Memorie: Bijdragen tot de Rechtsgeschiedenis der Nederlanden" ("Dutch Legal History Journal") and "Tijdschrift voor Civiele Rechtspleging" ("Dutch Civil Procedure Journal"). He is general editor of the History of Private Law series and of the China & Comparative Law series. He is founding member of the European Society for Comparative Legal History, Council Member of the International Association of Procedural Law, Member of the Wissenschaftliche Vereinigung für Internationales Verfahrensrecht and fellow of the Maastricht European Private Law Institute (Mepli). He is also an elected member of "Maatschappij der Nederlandse Letterkunde" ("Society of Dutch Literature and History").

Alan Uzelac is Professor at the Zagreb University and Chair of Department for Civil Procedure of the Faculty of Law. His teaching and research includes issues of national and comparative civil procedure, arbitration and alternative dispute resolution, organization of judiciary, legal professions and procedural human rights. He holds degrees in law (LL.B., LL.M., LL.D.) and social sciences (M.A. (phil.), M.A. (literature)) from Zagreb University. He was visiting researcher and scholar at a number of universities, including Harvard Law School (Fulbright grant), and universities of Vienna (Austria), Maastricht (the Netherlands), Oslo (Norway), Kazan (Russia), and Pavia (Italy). As an active member of the International Association of Procedural Law and the German Association for International Procedural Law, he serves on the chief advisory bodies of both organizations (Council, Rat). Since mid-90s, he was engaged as national delegate of Croatia in the work of UNCITRAL Working Group for Arbitration and Conciliation were he participated in drafting of the several international instruments in the field of alternative dispute resolution. He was involved in various activities of the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ) of the Council of Europe, where he held different functions (inter alia: Bureau member from 2003-2006, President of the Task Force on Timeframes of Proceedings - TF-DEL 2005-2006). His professional experience includes work in various Croatian courts, Croatian State Bar Exam, and internship at the Secretariat of the ICC International Court of Arbitration in Paris. Over a period of ten years, Professor Uzelac was Secretary General of the Permanent Arbitration Court at the Croatian Chamber of Commerce. Throughout his career, he was often engaged as expert in various legislative projects. As an international expert he was engaged on a number of missions, assisting legal reforms and legal collaboration in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Russia and Kosovo. Professor Uzelac also acts as member of the highest body for judicial appointments and discipline, the State Judicial Council in 2012-2015 period.