e-Justice in Europe: From National Experiences to EU Cross-Border Service Provision

The aim of this chapter is to shed some light on the Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) development and implementation in the justice domain (the so-called e-Justice), and to glance at the key elements of this emerging phenomenon, building on the European Union experience at national and Community level. Although ICTs are increasingly at the core of the functioning of the justice service provision in modern democracies, their implementation and deployment, and the complex intertwining between law, technology and organizations, which characterize e-Justice experiences, remains poorly understood. The analysis of concrete e-Justice cases allows clarification of some of the practical implications of different experiences, providing useful indications of the elements which have made feasible the development of effective e-Justice systems.