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Justice Enhanced: Framing an Opt‐Out Class Action for England
Author(s) -
Mulheron Rachael
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
the modern law review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.37
H-Index - 22
eISSN - 1468-2230
pISSN - 0026-7961
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-2230.2007.00652.x
Subject(s) - plaintiff , framing (construction) , commonwealth , class action , opt in email , civil procedure , opt out , political science , statutory law , law , jurisprudence , law and economics , sociology , engineering , computer science , computer security , state (computer science) , structural engineering , algorithm , world wide web
This article contends that the absence of an opt‐out class action remains a yawning gap within English civil procedure. Various recent reform proposals have favoured opt‐in procedural vehicles as the way forward. However, key features of these proposals – an opt‐in approach and the use of a representative claimant – are subject to considerable reservations in jurisprudence from both England and elsewhere. Following a critique of these features, the article proposes that an ‘opt‐out regime with brakes’ should be introduced, taking into account both the requirement for proportionality under the Civil Procedure Rules, and the invaluable lessons provided by the established Commonwealth statutory class actions regimes.