OBJECTIVE AND VISION OF FOUNDATION RESEARCH ON THE (DUTCH) JUDICIAL SYSTEM

The quality of civil justice has been the subject of much discussion in the Netherlands in recent years. Complaints are made about the duration of civil procedures, which often do not solve the problem faced by the litigant either. Moreover, there are complaints about insufficient funding for legal aid and justice. The faltering digitization of the administration of justice is a key concern in this regard.

The Foundation aims to promote independent research into the civil law problems of ordinary citizens and small entrepreneurs. An important research theme of the Foundation is improving the accessibility to justice for citizens and small entrepreneurs.

The Foundation believes that improved accessibility – which means lowering thresholds – can reduce the feeling of not being heard among litigants. In that respect, the Foundation is considering starting several research projects. Ideas for this can be found in the booklet Towards the renewal of (civil) justice (edited by Dr. Th. Groenewald et al., 2019) and the essay The future of access to justice (by Prof. dr. Mies Westerveld, 2019).