Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- List of abbreviations
- Introduction
- I The litigation process
- II Protection of diffuse, fragmented and collective interests
- 5 Introduction
- 6 Aspects of U.S. and French law
- 7 English law
- III Procedural modes
- IV The parties and the judge
- V Recourse against judgments
- VI Procedural reform
- Index
- CAMBRIDGE STUIDES IN INTERNATIONAL AND COMPARATIVE LAW
7 - English law
from II - Protection of diffuse, fragmented and collective interests
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 December 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- List of abbreviations
- Introduction
- I The litigation process
- II Protection of diffuse, fragmented and collective interests
- 5 Introduction
- 6 Aspects of U.S. and French law
- 7 English law
- III Procedural modes
- IV The parties and the judge
- V Recourse against judgments
- VI Procedural reform
- Index
- CAMBRIDGE STUIDES IN INTERNATIONAL AND COMPARATIVE LAW
Summary
Part I
If a pebble is dropped into a pool of water, ripples will spread on the surface of the water; how far the ripples will spread and with what strength depends on a variety of factors, but there will always be a ripple of some kind. The same is true of a decision of a court of law. Notwithstanding what Professor Chayes has accurately described as the bipolar character of traditional civil litigation,2 it is almost inconceivable that the outcome of a civil action will affect no one but the parties to it: unless an exception can be found to John Donne's famous axiom that ‘No man is an Island, entire of itself’ - and such a man, if he exists, is unlikely to bring an action in the first place - the ripple effect even of, say, a simple decision that an individual defendant must pay a sum of money by way of damages to an individual plaintiff will extend to their respective families and beyond. It is not wholly absurd to say of such a case that, for example, the retail traders, the banks, and so on with whom the parties have dealt or may deal in the future have an ‘interest’ that an action by an injured individual may protect; and, if they do, that interest is certainly diffuse and fragmented, even if it is not collective.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- On Civil Procedure , pp. 122 - 148Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2000