Synopsis
This wide-ranging study considers the primary forms of decision-making – negotiation, mediation, umpiring, as well as the processes of avoidance and violence – in the context of rapidly changing discourses and practices of civil justice across a range of jurisdictions. Many contemporary discussions in this field–and associated projects of institutional design–are taking place under the broad but imprecise label of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). The book brings together and analyses a wide range of materials dealing with dispute processes, and the current debates on and developments in civil justice. With the help of analysis of materials beyond those ordinarily found in the ADR literature, it provides a comprehensive and comparative perspective on modes of handling civil disputes. The new edition is thoroughly revised and is extended to include new chapters on avoidance and self-help, the ombuds, Online Dispute Resolution and pressures of institutionalisation.
About the Authors
Michael Palmer is Emeritus Professor of Law at the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). He is also Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (IALS) and at the Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies (HKIAPS) at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. His publications are mainly in the field of comparative legal studies and give particular attention to Chinese law, both traditional and modern. Michael has been Joint Editor of the Journal of Comparative Law for more than a decade and is also Editor of the journal Amicus Curiae. He is a barrister at Serle Court and at McNair Chambers. He has been a special adviser to the Attorney-General of Hong Kong, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the European Commission, and also recently served as (very probably) the first western dean of a mainland Chinese law school.
Simon Roberts (1941–2014) was Professor of Law at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). A renowned legal anthropologist, his early career included two years' teaching in Malawi in the 1960s and three years as Adviser on Customary Law to the Botswana Government (1968–71). He authored the seminal work Order and Dispute: An Introduction to Legal Anthropology (1979, with a second edition in 2013), a study of law, order and dispute settlement and how they are conceptualised and socially founded. His analysis drew inter alia upon field research among the Kgatla in Botswana and later encouraged his work on issues in dispute processes in jurisdictions such as England and Wales. His most recent book was A Court in the City: Civil and Commercial Litigation in London at the Beginning of the 21st Century (2013), based on his ethnographic research at the Mayor's and City of London Court. This study examined the work of the court in sponsoring dispute settlement. He continued to teach ADR at the LSE long after retirement. Simon also served on the Lord Chancellor's family law advisory board which assisted in preparations for the Family Law Act (1996) and was General Editor of the Modern Law Review from 1988 until 1995. In 2011, Simon was elected an Honorary Fellow of the LSE.
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