Austerity in Civil Procedure and the Role of Simplified Procedures

The present issue (8:4) of Erasmus Law Review results from one of the sessions of the XV World Congress of Procedural Law of the International Association of Procedural Law in 2015, dedicated to ‘Effective Judicial Relief and Remedies in an Age of Austerity’. It focuses on the role of simplified civil procedures against the background of austerity. The articles included in this issue are fully redrafted versions of a selection of the national reports prepared for the general report for this conference, authored by the present editors.This issue includes nine articles that each deal with simplified procedures and austerity issues in a particular jurisdiction. Three articles discuss European jurisdictions: Belgium (Stefaan Voet), England and Wales (John Sorabji), and Spain (Laura Carballo Pineiro and Jordi Nieva Fenoll). Two articles concern distinct Asian countries: Israel (Ehud Brosh) and Japan (Etsuko Sugiyama). One article addresses an African country: Ghana (Ernest Owusu-Dapaa and Ebenezer Adjei Bediako). Three articles focus on American jurisdictions; North America: the United States (Manuel Gomez and Juan Carlos Gomez) and Canada (Jon Silver and Trevor Farrow), and South America: Brazil (Antonio Gidi and Hermes Zaneti Jr.).This article will frame and provide an overview of simplified procedures in the nine jurisdictions, discuss the effects of austerity on civil procedure and the role of simplified procedures.