e justice (Electronic Justice) Small Claims court dissertation project

Abstract

This work is devoted to the development of an e-justice system; more specifically a
web based small claims court. This system was developed to see if it is indeed
possible for a small claims court to be totally electronically based (or as much as
possible) hence the term e-justice. The e-justice system implemented allows a
claimant to make a claim against a defendant and resolve the claim electronically
without the need to go to a physical courtroom. The claim can be resolved either by the defendant paying the monies owed online, or if a defendant wishes to counter-claim, then the case is heard in a “Virtual Courtroom‟. This “Virtual Courtroom‟ is where the case is “heard‟ by a judge using web cam feeds relating to the claimant and defendant. These webcam feeds could be streamed from the
claimant/defendant‟s personal computer at home, thus eliminating the need to go toa courtroom which could be far away. The developed system was evaluated by user testing and was proven to be satisfactory in terms of usability and functionality but perhaps such a system is not ready to replace the current small claims court in the immediate future. It may be that further into the future the entire courts system may undergo a digital transformation with the continuing improvement and availability of digital technology.

About the e-justice project:

As part of my Degree, (at the University of Hull) my dissertation project was to research the idea of electronic justice (e-justice) and whether such a system could replace the current court system.

What is e-justice?

E-justice could be defined as an umbrella term for the use of information technology practices within the judiciary system. This could relate to the use of IT to write reports and also communication, such as e-mail, between the judge and other parties connected with the case. It could also refer to the use of technologies to aid the case, such as using video footage to present evidence. However for this project we are researching the possibility of whether these technologies can be utilised to provide a fully electronic justice system (e-justice), whereby, through the use of computing, justice can be attained.

Current e-justice systems

Existing e-justice systems looked at in this project involved the Pay Pal Solution Center and Her Majesty’s Court Service: Money Claim Online. As stated previously this project  focused on the small claims system. More specifically  building a web based e-justice system prototype whereby claimants’ can file a claim against the defendant and the defendant can have the opportunity to resolve the claim online using the system. However in attempting to make this
system totally electronically based (or as much as possible) then all correspondence will be via e-mail and, if the defendant disputes the claim, then the claim is “heard‟ in a virtual courtroom. The prototype system was developed using PHP, MySQL and some Javascript.

Downloads / view the Prototype:

• download the e-justice dissertation project (PDF – 3.40 MB)
• download  (compressed version -if you have trouble viewing it in your browser) e-justice dissertation project (.zip – 3.03 MB)

• View the e-justice small claims prototype system – please note this is a prototype system and not all functions implemented.

If you want the source code for the project, please don’t hesitate to ask!