Parallel Justice: Creating Causes of Action for Mandatory Mediation

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2014

Publication Information

47 University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform 359 (2014)

Abstract

The American common law system should adopt court-connected mandatory mediation as a parallel system of justice for some cases that are currently not justiciable, such as wrongs caused by constitutionally protected behavior. As evidence that such a system is practical, this Article describes systemic and ethical parallels between court-connected mediation and the rise of the equity courts in medieval England, demonstrating that there are no insurmountable practical objections to the creation of “mediation-only” causes of action. The Article then explores the constitutional concerns surrounding the idea of “mandatory mediation-only” causes of action, using constitutional hate speech and invasion of privacy cases to test the validity of these concerns.

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