Group Litigation Mechanism

In the early days of the society, the form in which people get mixed with each other was correspondingly single, which determined that civil disputes were that between one party and another. With the development of the society, the form in with people get mixed with each other tends to be diversified and the scope in which people get mixed with each other expands gradually. Accordingly, the form of dispute tends to be diversified. One symbol is that multi-party disputes evolved from that of single-party. The theme of this article is civil procedural mechanism of group dispute, with the aim to bring forward an integrated theoretical framework and concrete design for constructing group action system in China that corresponds with the reality of representative action system now in existence in China and provide a feasible notion for the amendment of the law, by means of probing into the theory and practice of group action and a thorough study of foreign systems and actual operations in this field.Chapter one is the summary of group dispute and civil procedural mechanism of group dispute. At first, the author gives a definition of group action and ascertains the object of this article. Group dispute in this article means dispute which arises from same or similar fact(s) or action(s) and parties involving in such dispute is so many that they can't be resolved in one joinder. Group dispute is characterized with homology in issue and numerousness of parties involved. The major difference between group action and non-group action lies in the parties involved and interests at question. Because traditional single action and joinder are not potent in resolving group dispute, so it is necessary to set up a special civil procedural mechanism for group dispute. In section 2 the author gives a definition of civil procedural mechanism for group dispute and discusses the theoretical basis for resolving group dispute in one single procedure, which are theory of procedural efficiency, access to justice and civil litigation right, public interest. The functions of the civil procedural mechanism for group dispute consist of expanding the judicature's function of resolving dispute, enhancing procedural efficiency, balancing the ability of the two parties in litigation, protecting public interest, guiding people's behavior and making policy and law.Chapter two is about the comparative study of the civil procedural mechanism for group dispute in other countries/jurisdictions. Many countries/jurisdictions have...