Civil Litigation in Twentieth Century Europe

Introduction Choosing a starting point and an end for a historiography of the civil procedural laws of twentieth century Europe from the perspective of case management is as simple as choosing these moments in the Europe of the nineteenth century. In the nineteenth century the historiography should commence with the French Code de procédure civile, that was adopted in 1806. It was this code, with its rather passive judge, that would leave its mark on the nineteenth century civil procedural law of almost all European states. The year 1898, in which the influential Austrian Zivilprozessordnung (öZPO) of the 1 of August 1895 took effect, marked the end of the era of nineteenth century civil procedure. Both within and outside Europe the Austrian Zivilprozessordnung with its active judge would, to a great extent, take over from the French Code de procédure civile the task of setting the example. This end simultaneously forms the starting point of the twentieth century civil procedural law. With regard to this area of the law the recently passed century therefore already commenced before the turn of the century. As regards the end of the era of twentieth century civil procedure, I would like to set this end in 1999, the year in which the English Civil Procedure Rules came into force, despite the fact that the choice of this moment in a period that has passed only so recently is precarious. The adoption of these rules also caused a change in trend as regards the position of the judge who now also in England and Wales has acquired extensive case management powers. Although this change is felt especially in England and Wales, this development is also of great significance to Europe, as the new Rules in one step bring English civil procedural law closer to its continental counterparts than it has been in centuries. Moreover chances are considerable that the new English Rules will influence legal development in other countries. For example, the large interest for the English developments in The Netherlands is striking. The commission that was composed there to fundamentally review the Code of Civil Procedure and other statutes has recently finished its task. It has paid extensive attention to the English developments. With this, however, I enter the twenty-first century and venture myself outside the central period I would like to discuss here.