ABSTRACT
Civil claims for small sums raise peculiarly difficult access to justice questions. These are all the more acute in jurisdictions where the price of legal services varies from high to colossal. One of the main justifications for class action procedures and the like is to achieve judicial economy in the resolution of numerous small claims. One may readily understand the initiative of the Commission in consulting from the end of 2002 and introducing in March 2005 a proposal for a Regulation to establish a European Small Claims Procedure (ESCP) with the intentions of simplifying small claims litigation and facilitating recognition of judgments arising from it. Different judicial performance levels lead to an uneven playing field and distort competition and thus, the argument runs, an ESCP would facilitate the proper functioning of the internal market. The attempt to preclude impediments to the internal market resonates with the recent approach of the Court of Justice in Owusu vJackson.
