EVOLUTION OF CIVIL PROCEDURAL LAW IN EUROPE: HOW THE ACTIVE JUDGE BECAME THE NORM

Abstract

The present article discusses the development of civil procedural law in sev-eral European jurisdictions from the start of the nineteenth century until the present. The central theme is the change in the position of the judge, from a passive umpire into an active case manager. The jurisdictions under discus-sion are France, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands and England & Wales