Civil Procedure (LAW260H1S)

This course provides an introduction to civil legal process. We will focus on legal thinking, rules and processes of civil procedure and dispute resolution. After a short introduction to the legal system, we will consider the rules, statutes, and common-law doctrines governing parties and proceedings. Topics to be covered may include standing, justiciability, the joinder of parties, intervention by non-parties, pleadings, limitation periods, relitigation, jurisdiction, preliminary relief, discovery, confidentiality and privilege, summary judgment, class proceedings, and the interaction between the civil litigation process and other modes of dispute resolution. The focus, during all of these discussions, will be on the rationales for the rules, standards, and doctrines that govern legal procedure, in light of the various interests that must be accommodated: the plaintiff’s desire to be heard, the defendant’s wish to avoid needless litigation, the efforts of non-parties to have their interests represented, the needs of potential future litigants to have the law clearly set out on the basis of accurate information, and the public’s demand for an effective and efficient system.