Jakob Juul-Sandberg

»Reform and Development of Preparatory Proceedings in the Danish Civil Justice System: Towards (Even) More Efficient Courts«

Regulation of civil procedure in Denmark is based on a long history of national legislation. The Danish civil justice system is one of the most well functioning in Europe and the Danish courts have evidently become more effective over the years. Through several reforms in the last decade, the civil justice system has been changed and restructured in order to adopt new digital technology. Structural reforms have also made the courts more efficient without compromising the basic principles on rule of law, access to courts and justice for all parties involved in a civil proceeding. Large parts of the reforms have focused on preparatory proceedings and the use of new technology as means to access the courts easier, get cases tried faster and lower the costs for parties. This article explores the implementation of reforms to the preparatory proceedings in the Danish justice system. It seeks to determine whether the actions have fulfilled their purposes, if the system is working sufficiently and discover whether there still are possible ways of making the process in civil cases more effective and less expensive without compromising rule of law or principles of access to courts and justice.