A Comparison of Case Assignment Systems in Six European Judiciaries: Description and comparative grid

Case assignment is an important subject for policy makers within judicial administration, for court administrators and managing judges. It touches upon questions of efficiency and timeliness of justice, speciliazation within the courts, and safeguarding judicial impartiality and independence. This book deals withcase assignment processes in ordinary and administrative courts in six European countries: Denmark, England and Wales, France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. The study has been conducted by researchers from these countries, and follows two perspectives: a juridical analysis and qualitative empirical research. Based on these very informative country descriptions, the research directors have made a comparative analysisi of theways court organisations cope with case assignment processes. Among the research findings, the research directors show that the different case assignment systems are the product of the tensions between organisational, constitutional and professional values that characterise every judiciary.