Three experimental appeal courts are working with the Cour de cassation to try out an innovative system that reflects a vision of the future for the role of judges and the handling of emerging, complex or serial cases.
The “Cour de cassation 2030 Commission” report noted that the very large volume of cases handled by the judicial courts makes it difficult to identify the major trends driving the flow of litigation and to systematically identify cases involving issues of significant public interest.
The “Cour de cassation 2030 Commission” report therefore recommended the creation of an Observatory of judicial litigation, a mechanism that would encourage a global and coordinated approach to the handling of litigation, whether emerging, serial or involving new and complex issues. This recommendation caught the attention of the First president Christophe Soulard, as its implementation is likely, on the one hand, to guarantee litigants greater efficiency in the justice system and improved predictability of the law. On the other hand, it is likely to provide an answer to the need for support experienced by the judicial courts.
Accordingly, the First president has tasked the President Sandrine Zientara, Director of the Documentation, Studies and Report Department, with setting up this Observatory with a one-year trial period, after numerous consultations that have helped define a collective and pragmatic project. These consultations included discussions with foreign courts, some of which have a specialised observatory mechanism (Italy has an observatory on civil justice, Norway has the “Counsel’s Forum” and Spain set up an observatory on gender violence attached to the CSM). In practice the Observatory will aim to:
- identify targeted litigation through an information feedback mechanism;
- support the handling of litigation by identifying similar cases from one jurisdiction to another, reporting on their progress, while devoting in-depth research and analysis to them;
- provide professionals with secure access to the legal and procedural information collected.
All the courts will be able to take part in this process via dedicated pages on the Court’s intranet site, foreshadowing a future dedicated platform. In addition, legal and judicial partners are closely involved in this project and their representatives at a national level are the members of the Observatory’s steering committee.
President Zientara presents the OLJ