Re: Shoplifting, concealment, liability presumption

[Alan Mackenzie]

Hyman Rosen <hyrosen@mail.com> wrote:

> Spoken by someone who has no understanding of what legal
> processes are really like. Lawsuits are slow and arduous
> and expensive. That's just the nature of the legal system,
> and it's difficult to see how it could be otherwise, since
> each side needs to be able to present its case and respond
> to the other side, and legal papers don't write themselves,
> and not overnight.

Sorry Hyman, but I disagree.  It's easy to see how things could be
otherwise, at least for ordinary civil cases.  For example, by giving
rapid decision making and reducing costs equal priority to "each side
begin able to present its case and respond".

One such procedure for ordinary civil suits might run as follows: the
complainant sumits his complaint in ordinary English to a clerk of the
court, who evaluates it, possibly clarifying with the complainant.  The
clerk then notifies the defendant, asking him to submit his side of the
story, again in normal English.  The clerk then outlines the pertinent
law to both parties, stating what needs to be proved by whom.  At this
stage, a resolution of the case is likely.  Either party would be allowed
here to appeal against the clerk's legal formulation.  Should it come to
court, only the established factual questions would need to be resolved.

The cost of the above procedure would be much less than what we currently
have.

-- 
Alan Mackenzie (Nuremberg, Germany).