Comparative Procedural Law and Justice (CPLJ) is a global project on comparative civil justice, organized by the Max Planck Institute Luxembourg for Procedural Law and supported by the Luxembourg Research Fund FNR (FNR – O19/13946847). 

Officially launched in September 2020, it was the flagship research project of the Department of European and Comparative Procedural Law of the Max Planck Institute Luxembourg, led by Burkhard Hess. In January 2024, the Max Planck Institute Luxembourg and CPLJ were transferred to the University of Luxembourg. The University of Luxembourg took then responsibility as Coordinating Institution until the project’s completion in August 2024.

Burkhard Hess was the founding director of the Max Planck Institute for Procedural Law where CPLJ was originally launched. Since September 2024, he has been continuing the project as leading editor from his new chair and with the assistance of his team at the University of Vienna.

Project Description

CPLJ was envisaged as a comprehensive study of comparative civil procedural law and civil dispute resolution schemes in the contemporary world. It aimed at understanding procedural rules in their cultural context, as well as at highlighting workable approaches to the resolution of civil disputes. It focused on recent developments in the field of comparative civil procedure from a global perspective. These included the influence of Information Technologies and Artificial Intelligence; the expansion of alternative dispute resolution; the most recent trends on access to justice; the challenges of collective litigation; and the growing needs for transparency and independence of the justice systems. The cultural dimensions and the methodology of comparative civil procedural law received specific attention.

The ultimate goal of the project was to produce a multi-volume Publication on Comparative Procedural Law and Justice accessible online. The Publication, to be released in full in autumn 2024, is expected to illustrate the consolidation of comparative civil procedural law as a self-standing research area and aspires to become one of the main sources of reference for future studies.