Small Claims, Complex Disputes: A Review of the Small Claims Literature

We take it as a matter of course that a judge should be a mere umpire, to pass upon objections and hold counsel to the rules of the game, and that the parties should fight out their own game in their own way without judicial interference … The idea that procedure must of necessity be wholly contentious disfigures our administration of justice at every point. Pound, 1906:404-5 The possibility that any given problem might be handled in more than one way does not constitute a liability. Rather, it is a form of competition among, for instance, means of settling a dispute …. Each method of dispute settlement constitutes a different product—of differing utility to different consumers—some clearly more suitable than others for certain situations. The Justice Industry has an obligation, not simply continuously to refine one product—but to deliver new and competing products to serve the varied needs of the consumer. Cahn & Cahn, 1966:947-48