Preface

• Pages: XVII-XVIII
• Author: Janet Walker,Lorne Sossin,Erik S. Knutsen,Gerard J. Kennedy

PREFACE

The world is a very different place from the one we knew in 2010, when

the rst edition of Civil Lit igation was published. At that time, it was

our hope that writing a s mall book about a big subject that was familiar

to many but well understood by few would help to promote access to

justice.

Since then, the pace of civil justice reform has increased year upon

year, never quite catching up with the need for it. And with t he growing

need for access to justice has come the need for an even wider under-

standing of the civi l justice system and how it works. It is our hope that

this second edition of “a small book about a big subject” will continue

to promote a wider understanding and, wit h it, improved access to jus-

tice.

Some topics and chapters are completely new. These include cover-

age of the class actions process, onl ine dispute resolution, issues of

privilege, the treatment of vexat ious litigants, the trial and appeal pro-

cess, and recent access to legal reform developments including sig ni-

cant development in the law of discovery and sum mary procedures.

However, even with the topics and chapters that continue from the rst

edition, changing legi slation and key precedents have informed our

perspective.

We are delighted that the passing yea rs have enabled us to welcome

two new members to the team of authors. This edit ion was prepared in

a highly collaborative way with pr imary responsibility for the chapters,

or portions of the chapters, divided among us a s follows: The Honour-

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