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Measuring Access to Justice in a Globalising World, the Hague Model of Access to Justice

General Information

The Measuring Access to Justice Project, which relates to HiiL’s Rule of Law research theme, is a partnership between HiiL, Tilburg University and Utrecht University. The project has already produced a series of papers and publications and of the project main deliverables - the Handbook on Measuring Access to Justice, is expected to be published in summer / autumn 2009.

Summary of the Project

The goal of this project is to develop a framework for measuring access to justice in international and in national settings. Globalisation increases and changes the need for citizens to have access to a private or public mechanism that induces other citizens and government officials to respect their rights (“Paths to Justice”). This access is costly: people spend money, time and effort to bring their case forward in negotiations, in a court action, or in other dispute resolution procedures. How to measure these costs (“the length and the difficulty of the path”)? How to determine the price of access to justice for the user? That is the central research question. The framework will be developed interactively, by a core (multidisciplinary) working team, in dialogue with Dutch experts, and with a group of international experts and stakeholders.

Project Leader

Prof. Maurits Barendrecht - Tilburg University

Researchers

Malini Laxminarayan - Tilburg University
Dr. Martin Gramatikov - Tilburg University
Dr. Peter Kamminga - Tilburg University
Laura Klaming - Tilburg University
Jin Ho Verdonschot - Tilburg University
Corry van Zeeland - Tilburg University
Prof. Ivo Giesen - Utrecht University

Duration

May 2007 – August 2009

Grant Awarded 

€ 350,000,-

Matching

€ 72,909,-

Scientific Publications

  • Barendrecht, M. (2009) “In Search of Microjustice: Five Basic Elements of a Dispute System”. Tilburg University Legal Studies Working Paper No 002/2009.
  • Barendrecht, M. (2009) “Best Practices for an Affordable and Sustainable Dispute System A Toolbox for Microjustice”. Tilburg University Legal Studies Working Paper No 003/2009.
  • Gramatikov, M. & Laxminarayan, M. (2009), “Weighting Justice: Constructing an Index of Access to Justice”. Tilburg University Legal Studies Working Paper No 18/2008.
  • Laxminarayan, M. (2009), “Measuring Crime Victims’ Paths to Justice: Developing Indicators for Costs and Quality of Access to Justice”.
  • Barendrecht, J.M. , Kamminga, P. & Verdonschot, J.H. (2008) “Priorities for the Justice System: Responding to the most Urgent Legal Problems of the Individuals”. TISCO Working Paper No. 001/2008, Tilburg University Legal Studies Working Paper No. 002/2008, TILEC Discussion Paper No 2008-011.
  • Gramatikov, M. (2008) “A Framework for Measuring the Costs of Paths to Justice”. Jurisprudence. Vol. 2, February 2009, 111, TISCO Working Paper Series on Civil Law and Conflict Resolution Systems No. 006/2008.
  • Gramatikov, M., Barendrecht, J.M. & Verdonschot, J.H. (2008) “Measuring the Costs and Quality of Paths to Justice: Contours of a Methodology”. Presented at the conference Reaching Further: New Approaches to the Delivery of Justice, London , Legal Services Research Centre, June 18-20, 2008), TISCO Working Paper Series on Civil Law and Conflict Resolution Systems No. 004/2008, Tilburg University Legal Studies Working Paper No 009/2008.
  • Klaming, L. & Giesen, I. (2008) “Access to Justice: The Quality of Procedure”. Presented at the 18th Conference of the European Association of Psychology and Law, July 2008), TISCO Working Paper Series on Civil Law and Conflict Resolution Systems No. 002/2008.
  • Klaming, L. & Gramatikov, M. (2008) “Justice as Experienced by the User: A Study of the Costs and Quality of a Path to Justice in the Netherlands”. Tilburg University Legal Studies Working Paper No 004/2009.
  • Verdonschot, J.H., Barendrecht, J.M., Klaming, L. & Kamminga P. (2008) “Measuring Access to Justice: The Quality of Outcomes”. Tilburg University Legal Studies Working Paper No 14/2008, TISCO Working Paper No. 007/2008.
  • Gramatikov, M. (2007) “Methodological Challenges in Measuring Cost and Quality of Access to Jusctice”. Tilburg University Legal Studies Working Paper No 005/2008, TISCO Working Paper Series on Civil Law and Conflict Resolution Systems No. 002/2008.
  • Barendrecht, J.M., Mulder, J. & Giesen, I. (2006) “How to Measure the Price and Quality of Access to Justice?".

    • Articles

    Newsletters

    Handbook for Measuring the Costs and Quality of Access to Justice

    One of the project’s most important deliverables is a handbook about the measurement of user’s experiences on paths to justice.

    The Handbook was published in January 2010. In this Handbook the reader finds practical information on the use of a methodology for measuring the cost and quality of paths to justice from the perspective of users. How do clients of justice systems like the way they can voice their needs and concerns? Do they feel they received sufficient information about the procedure? Do they think the outcome was fair and did it help to solve their problem? Do they think the procedure was value for money? How much time did they spend? This methodology aims to provide answers to such questions so that citizens using the justice system can voice their needs and providers of justice services can improve their processes.

    For more detailed information about this research project, please visit this research project’s website here.

    Contact Information

    Morly Frishman
    Research and Programme Officer
    morly.frishman@hiil.org
    +31 (0)70 3494409