The European Union policies on access to justice and ADRs: good intentions are not enough as “the way to hell is paved with...”.

Abstract

Forms of extra-judicial dispute resolution are widespread in legal systems belonging to the western legal tradition and in the systems based on religion and tradition. With regard to the study this article refers to, cultural movements spreading and promoting ADR models have found place in legal systems based on the rule of law over the past fifty years, although with the necessary distinctions of institutional and, before that, socio-cultural nature. In a first phase, the European Union opened a broad debate to sensitize public awareness on the issues concerning the access to justice, the reduction of time and costs of a trial if compared to those when using ADRs, the respect of the weak parties in the legal-economic relations. On the other hand, in a second phase the EU carried out some early non-binding legislative initiatives, and later obliged Member States to legislate on the mediation in civil and commercial disputes.