Contents

C. H. VAN RHEE: Introduction

I. Preliminary Remarks

II. Due and Undue Delay: A Definition

III. Causes of Undue Delay

1. Non-Procedural Factors

2. Procedural Factors

a) Pre-Action

b) Pre-Trial

c) Trial

d) Closure of Trial until Final Judgment

e) Recourse against Judgments

f) Special Procedures

g) Enforcement

IV. Final Remarks

Bibliography

I. Middle Ages

M. ASCHERI: Between Statutory Law and Learned Law: Delay in the Early History of the Medieval Italian Communes (and Beyond)

I. General Notes

1. Before the Ius Commune

2. From the Second Half of Twelfth Century Onwards: a New Complexity

3. A Glance at the Communal World

II. Means to Avoid Delay

1. The Regulation of Contumacia

2. Exclusion of Other Jurisdictions

3. Commercial Courts

4. Instrumentum Guarentigiatum (Guaranteed Deed)

5. Mandatory Arbitration

6. Consilia Sapientium

7. Reprisals

8. The Radical Solution: The Refusal to Apply the Ius Commune

III. The Realm of Contradiction

Bibliography

P. BRAND: ‘To None Will We Sell, to None Will We Deny or Delay Right or Justice’: Expedition and Delay in Civil Proceedings in the English Medieval Royal Courts

I. Introduction

II. Court Organisation and ‘Court Staff’

III. The Pre-Action Stage

IV. The Pre-Trial Stage

V. The Trial Stage

1. The Oral Pleading Stage

2. The Proof Stage

VI. From Closure of Trial to Final Judgment

VII. Recourse against Judgments

VIII. Special Procedures

IX. Conclusions

Bibliography

R. H. HELMHOLZ: Due and Undue Delay in the English Ecclesiastical Courts (ca. 1300 – 1600)

I. Introduction

II. Court Organization

III. Pre-Trial Proceedings

IV. Trials

V. Appeals

VI. Enforcement of Sentences

VII. Conclusion

Bibliography

K. W. NÖRR: Verzögert oder beschleunigt: das Beispiel des römisch-kanonischen Prozessrechts

I. Einleitung

II. Das vorbereitende Verfahren, oder Verfahren bis zur Litiskontestation

III. Das Verfahren im engeren Sinn: von der Litiskontestation zum Endurteil

IV. Ein Fazit

Literatur

II. Early Modern Period

A. M. J. A. BERKVENS: The Reform of Civil Procedure in the Rhine-Prussian Provinces: The Example of Prussian Gueldres 1713–1786

I. Introduction

II. The Procedural Law of Gueldres in the Seventeenth Century

III. The Codex Fridericianus and the 1752 Ordinance for Gueldres

IV. Inspection of the Subaltern Judiciary and the 1779 Ordinance for the Lower Benches in Prussian Gueldres

V. The 1781 Corpus Iuris Fridericianum and the 1786 Ordinances for the Lower Benches and for the Sovereign Court of the Duchy of Gueldres

1. The 1786 Regulation for the Lower Benches

2. The 1786 Regulation for the Sovereign Court

VI. Concluding Remarks

Bibliography

J. FINLAY: The History of Delay in Civil Procedure at the Scottish Court of Session (1600 – 1830)

I. Introduction

II. Court Organisation and Court Staff

1. The Outer House

2. The Inner House

3. Remuneration

III. Pre-Action

IV. Pre-Trial

1. Commencement of the Action

2. Litiscontestation

3. Defences

V. Trial

1. Oral Pleadings

2. The Taking of Evidence

3. Parole Evidence

VI. From the Closure of the Trial Until Final Judgment

VII. Recourse

VIII. Special Procedures

IX. Enforcement

X. Measures to Abbreviate the Procedure: Their Success or Lack of Success

Bibliography

A. M. GODFREY: Procedural Delay, Appeal and Advocation in the Court of Session in Sixteenth-Century Scotland

I. Introduction

1. Recognition of Delay as a Problem

2. The Prevalence of Delay

II. Court Organisation and ‘Court Staff’

III. Pre-Action/Pre-Filing

IV. Pre-Trial

V. Trial

1. Litiscontestation

2. Written Pleadings

3. Failure of Witnesses to Compear

4. Examination of Witnesses

VI. From the Closure of the Trial until Final Judgment

VII. Recourse against Judgments

VIII. Special Procedures

1. Advocation

2. Taking of Evidence in a Foreign Jurisdiction

IX. Enforcement

X. Conclusion

Bibliography

III. 19th and 20th Centuries

J. BLACKIE: Delay and Its Control in Mid to Late Nineteenth Century Scottish Civil Procedure

I. Introduction

II. Length of Time Actually Taken

III. The Human Resources Question – Popular Judges and Advocates

IV. Timetables and Rules Allowing them not to Be Followed

V. Written Pleadings

1. Written Pleading Giving Fair Notice of the Remedy Asked for, the Facts to Be Relied on, and the Basic Legal Grounds

2. Debates on Points of Law, and the Move to Orality

VI. Control of Delay in Procedure for Proof of Facts

1. Cases Proceeding for Jury Trial

2. Cases Proceeding for ‘Proof’ before a Judge without a Jury

a) Court of Session

b) Provincial Courts

VII. Appeals

1. Appeals before a Case Came to Jury Trial

2. Appeals before a Case Came to Proof of Facts before a Single Judge without a Jury

3. Appeal to the House of Lords – A Source of Delay?

VIII. Conclusion

Bibliography

W. H. BRYSON: The Code of Virginia of 1849

I. Court Organization

1. Appellate Courts

2. Public Offices as Private Property

II. Pre-Action/Pre-Filing

III. Pre-Trial

1. Generally

2. Actions for Torts

3. Actions for Breach of Contract

4. Actions for Ejectment from Land

5. Declaratory Judgments and Decrees

IV. Trials

1. Interested Witnesses

2. Depositions

V. From the Closure of the Trial until Final Judgment

VI. Recourse against Judgments

VII. Special Procedures

1. Pre-Trial Attachments

2. Distress for Rent

VIII. Enforcement of Judgments

1. Common Law

2. Equity

IX. Conclusion

Bibliography

S. FOCKEDEY: Reducing Undue Delay in Nineteenth Century Belgium: a Sisyphean Task

I. Introduction

1. Context

2. Goals of this Article

II. Undue Delay: Definition and Policy

1. Undue Delay

a) Legal Definition

b) Undue Delay Defined by Nineteenth Century Policymakers

c) Civil Procedure and Criminal Procedure

2. Policy

a) Official Documents

b) Judicial Press

3. Key players

a) The Secretary of Justice

b) Parliament

III. Undue Delay in Nineteenth Century Belgium: A Real Problem?

1. A Local and Limited Problem

2. Who Was to Blame?

IV. Reducing Undue Delay in Nineteenth Century Belgium: A Pragmatic Approach

1. A Large Number of Judicial Appointments

2. Extending the Subject-Matter Jurisdiction of the Lower Courts

3. There is No Real Substitute for Hard Work

V. Missed Opportunities

1. An Overhaul of Civil Procedure Fails

2. No Transition to ‘Le Juge Unique’, No Rationalisation of the Judicial System

VI. Conclusion

Bibliography

T. P. GALLANIS: Victorian Reform of Civil Litigation in the Superior Courts of Common Law

I. Introduction

II. Civil Litigation in the Superior Courts of Common Law at the Beginning of Victoria’s Reign (1837)

1. Court Organisation and ‘Court Staff’

2. Pre-Action/Pre-Filing

3. Pre-Trial

4. Trial

5. From the Closure of the Trial Until Final Judgment

6. Recourse Against Judgments

7. Special Procedures

8. Enforcement

III. Civil Litigation in the Superior Courts of Common Law at the End of Victoria’s Reign (1901)

1. Court Organisation and ‘Court Staff’

2. Pre-Action/Pre-Filing

3. Pre-Trial

4. Trial

5. From the Closure of the Trial Until Final Judgment, and Recourse Against Judgments

6. Special Procedures

7. Enforcement

IV. Themes and Conclusions

Bibliography

P. OBERHAMMER AND T. DOMEJ: Delay in Austrian Civil Procedure and the Legislator’s Response

I. Introduction

1. Franz Klein’s Reform of Civil Procedure and Procedural Delay

2. The Fight against Procedural Delay in the Twentieth Century

II. Court Organisation and Court Staff

1. Introduction

2. Panels versus Single Judges

3. Counsel Remuneration and Procedural Efficiency

III. ‘Pre-Trial’ and ‘Trial’

1. Introduction

2. From the Default Judgment to the Order for Payment

3. Concentration of the Hearing

4. Concentration by Preclusion

IV. From the Closure of the Trial until the Final Judgment

V. Recourse against Judgments

1. Structure of the Appellate Procedure

2. Suspensive Effect of the Appeal

3. Access to Appellate Courts

VI. Summary Procedures

Bibliography

D. TAMM AND A. HØJER SCHJØLER: The Way to the 1916 Reform of Danish Procedural Law

I. Introduction

1. Presentation

2. Court Organisation in the Early Modern Times

II. New initiatives

1. Pre-Action – The Introduction of Conciliation Boards

2. The Danish 1849 Constitution

3. The Maritime and Commercial Court of Copenhagen

III. Reform of Procedural Law in the Early Twentieth Century

1. New Initiatives

2. Preparing the Reform

3. Need or Will?

4. The Conciliation Boards and the Reform

5. The Period After the Reform

6. The Abolition of the Conciliation Boards

IV. End

1. Delay Today

2. Conclusion

Bibliography

S. WADDAMS: Clergy Discipline in the Church of England, 1830 –1892

I. Introduction

II. Court Organization and ‘Court Staff’

III. Pre-Action/Pre-Filing

IV. Pre-Trial

V. Trial

VI. From the Closure of the Trial until Final Judgment

VII. Recourse against Judgments

VIII. Special Procedures

IX. Enforcement

X. Conclusion

Bibliography

A. WIJFFELS: Undue Delay and the French Code of Civil Procedure (1806)

I. Introduction

II. Court Organisation

III. Preliminary Stages

IV. Formal Proceedings and Trial

V. Judgement

VI. Procedural Remedies against Judgements

1. Opposition

2. Appeal

VII. Special Procedures: Proceedings before the Justice of the Peace

VIII. Enforcement

IX. Epilogue

Bibliography

List of Contributors