See you in court! Or how about we just sort things out online? A report from the UK鈥檚 Civil Justice Council (CJC) has recommended that people be able to do just that.
鈥�Online dispute resolution鈥� services have been around for a while, including eBay鈥檚 long-established Resolution Centre and websites like Swiftcourt, which offer to arbitrate in legal disputes. Their rise has clearly caught the eye of the CJC.
The report鈥檚 principal recommendation is that the government set up an online court service known as 鈥淗M Online Court鈥� (HMOC). This would allow individuals to settle civil cases with a value of 拢25,000 or less. A full launch of such a service could happen as early as 2017.
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One of the report鈥檚 visions for HMOC includes the appointment of Online Judges 鈥� full-time and part-time members of the judiciary who could pass judgment on cases via the web. Telephone conferencing could also be arranged where necessary.
Chris Wilford, head of Policy and Public Affairs at the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb), says the report is a step in the right direction.
鈥淭he Ministry of Justice budget has been reduced extensively since 2010 so there needs to be new ways of dealing with that and preserving access to justice,鈥� he says.
Wilford adds that there will be advantages in terms of improving efficiency. 鈥淕iven the amount of paper building up in our court system, any way you can rationalise that, use technology to alleviate stress in the system and have things go through in a quicker way is positive,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hat is definitely a real step forward for people.鈥�
