Multi-Party Redress Mechanisms in Europe: Squeaking Mice?

The story of collective redress in the European Union up to the present day may be qualified as a story of missed opportunities and small steps forward. This is due to an overly cautious approach to the topic at the European and national levels, a fear of American-style class actions, and lobbying against the introduction of such mechanisms by those who might become subject to them as defendant parties. As a result, many of the collective redress mechanisms introduced so far in the various EU Member States may rightly be qualified as 'squeaking mice.' This appears not only from the contributions to the present volume, but also from the considerable number of studies that have been published in the last few years on collective redress mechanisms in Europe. The editors of the present volume are hoping that the future of collective redress in Europe will be brighter than the past. They anticipate that this book will further the discussion on collective redress in Europe by providing the most up-to-date information in the field, and that this will lead to the implementation of effective collective redress mechanisms in the various EU Member States - mechanisms that cannot be qualified as stillborn, as is the case with many of the reforms that, until now, have been introduced in most Member States. (Series: Ius Commune Europaeum - Vol. 133) [Subject: European Law]

Viktória Harsági is currently professor and head of department of Civil Procedure Law of the Pázmány Péter Catholic University and lecturer at the Andrássy Gyula German Speaking University in Budapest. She studied Law at the University of Miskolc (1999) and obtained in 2005 her PhD with the thesis “The Influence of Harmonisation of Law and Technical Development on Documentary Evidence”. As a visiting research fellow at predoctoral level she spent a full academic year at the Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz (2002-2003, DAAD-scholarship), at postdoctoral level two months at the Universität Basel (2011, von Caemmerer scholarship) a month in Vienna (2012, Institut für Zivilverfahrensrecht, ÖAD-scholarship) three months at the University of Cambridge Clare College (Eötvös Scholarship). She is the member of the International Association of Procedural Law, editor of the Pázmány Law Review. Her main fields of research is the international and comparative civil procedure law.

C.H. (Remco) van Rhee is Professor of Comparative Civil Procedure and European Legal History at Maastricht University (Netherlands) and director of the program “Foundations and Principles of Civil Procedure in Europe” of the Ius Commune Research School. He studied law at the universities of Leiden and Edinburgh, History at the university of Leuven and Psychology at the university of Leiden. He defended his PhD thesis on early-modern civil procedure at the university of Leiden, where he received his doctorate in 1997. His PhD thesis was awarded the prix d’excellence of the Praemium Erasmianum Foundation in 1997. Van Rhee taught Roman Law at the University of Leiden (1991-1994) and Property and Civil Procedure at the University of Utrecht (1994-1998) before being appointed at Maastricht University. He served, amongst other things, as head of department, member of the science committee of the law faculty of Maastricht University, academic director of the Maastricht University European Law School Master program and chairman of the Education Board of the Maastricht University European Law School. He held visiting positions at various universities in Europe, the Americas, Asia and Africa. He is a member of the several editorial boards: “The Legal History Review”; “Pro Memorie: Bijdragen tot de Rechtsgeschiedenis der Nederlanden” (“Dutch Legal History Journal”) and “Tijdschrift voor Civiele Rechtspleging” (“Dutch Civil Procedure Journal”). He is general editor of the History of Private Law series and of the China & Comparative Law series. He is founding member of the European Society for Comparative Legal History, Council Member of the International Association of Procedural Law, Member of the Wissenschaftliche Vereinigung für Internationales Verfahrensrecht and fellow of the Maastricht European Private Law Institute (Mepli). He is also an elected member of "Maatschappij der Nederlandse Letterkunde" ("Society of Dutch Literature and History").