Evidence in Contemporary Civil Procedure Fundamental Issues in a Comparative Perspective

A book series devoted to the common foundations of the European legal systems. The Ius Commune Europaeum series includes comparative legal studies as well as studies on the effect of treaties within national legal systems. All areas of the law are covered. The books are published in various European languages under the auspices of METRO, the Institute for Transnational Legal Research at Maastricht University. This book discusses the impact of EU law on selected national legal systems. The authors analyse how the civil procedure system of their country has reacted to increasing Europeanisation and influence of EU law. They identify significant changes and disseminate the reasons for particular developments and the further implications of EU law on the civil procedure.Europe is in a period of increasing Europeanisation of civil procedure. Procedural elements of EU law are based on decentralised enforcement, leaving enforcement and procedural issues to the Member States. Consequently, there is vast amount of EU case law that is relevant for national procedural law. The supremacy of EU law and, inter alia, the requirements of effectiveness and equivalence may be relevant for several topics of national civil procedural law, for example ex officio application of EU law, enforcement, insolvency proceedings, evidence, etc. Both EU legislation and doctrinal changes in EU case law touch upon various topics of the procedural law of the Member States. In a concluding chapter, a more comprehensive comparison between the countries represented in the book is made. Which doctrines, which pieces of legislation or features in legislation pose problems for national civil procedure? Are some legal systems or topics more prone to integrate European rules, and are others more resistant to changes? This book displays the Europeanisation of national civil procedure law and helps to understand this development from the perspective of Member States.

Alan Uzelac is Professor at the Zagreb University and Chair of Department for Civil Procedure of the Faculty of Law. His teaching and research includes issues of national and comparative civil procedure, arbitration and alternative dispute resolution, organization of judiciary, legal professions and procedural human rights. He holds degrees in law (LL.B., LL.M., LL.D.) and social sciences (M.A. (phil.), M.A. (literature)) from Zagreb University. He was visiting researcher and scholar at a number of universities, including Harvard Law School (Fulbright grant), and universities of Vienna (Austria), Maastricht (the Netherlands), Oslo (Norway), Kazan (Russia), and Pavia (Italy). As an active member of the International Association of Procedural Law and the German Association for International Procedural Law, he serves on the chief advisory bodies of both organizations (Council, Rat). Since mid-90s, he was engaged as national delegate of Croatia in the work of UNCITRAL Working Group for Arbitration and Conciliation were he participated in drafting of the several international instruments in the field of alternative dispute resolution. He was involved in various activities of the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ) of the Council of Europe, where he held different functions (inter alia: Bureau member from 2003-2006, President of the Task Force on Timeframes of Proceedings - TF-DEL 2005-2006). His professional experience includes work in various Croatian courts, Croatian State Bar Exam, and internship at the Secretariat of the ICC International Court of Arbitration in Paris. Over a period of ten years, Professor Uzelac was Secretary General of the Permanent Arbitration Court at the Croatian Chamber of Commerce. Throughout his career, he was often engaged as expert in various legislative projects. As an international expert he was engaged on a number of missions, assisting legal reforms and legal collaboration in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Russia and Kosovo. Professor Uzelac also acts as member of the highest body for judicial appointments and discipline, the State Judicial Council in 2012-2015 period. 2