Means of Disposal 1986 (Jan-Oct)
Trial
652 (2.9%)
Settlement
Otherwise
13,844 (60.7%)
6,319 (36.4%)
Total
22,819 (100%)
The caseload in the first full year (1975) was 1,031.
and Tribunal
No less than
the
97.1% of its business is disposed of without an adjudicated resolution
Officers assist towards although Adjudicators settlement in very many of the 60.7% of cases resolved by settlement. In respect of settlements as well as trials a review is now needed and the underlying in order to ensure that to be ought principles of the procedure are uniformly applied.
maintained
41.
In setting up informal tribunals governments and legislatures are reflecting the citizen's wish to have his minor disputes cleared up or resolved and forgotten without disproportionate cost or loss of his time. Tribunals often eventually develop a tendency to formality and a the opposite of what the desire to add to the rules of procedure citizen is thought to be seeking.
42.
The efficiency of a small claims procedure is entirely dependent on the personality and style of its Adjudicators and their to the needs of the case and the willingness to adapt themselves
It
parties and to meet a public desire for informal summary justice. is therefore important to have a clear system for dealing with disputed
claims.
Chief Adjudicator (as to appoint a recommended elsewhere in this Report) committed to acting on
The first step is
governing principles.
43.
the
I recommend an early examination (preferably with the Chief Adjudicator in the lead) of the conduct of tribunal proceedings with a view to ensuring uniformity in the application of the principles of simplicity, low cost and informality. Taken together the inquisitorial nature of the work, the need to be alive to the possibilities of reconciliation, the lack of formality and the requirement on Tribunal itself to narrow the issues and consider what documents are
the
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