Judicial Proceedings Must Be Weighted Instead of Just Counted

Researching and quantifying the complexity level of different court cases is important to ensure that adequate judicial resources are available to resolve these cases in a just and fair manner, as well as within a reasonable timeframe.

The traditional way to measure and quantify the level of complexity of different court cases is by assigning a separate weight to each case-type or case-type-category. The research on ‘case-weighting systems’ (CWS) originated in the United States in the late 1970’s, and has since been the subject of significant attention in Europe.

In this article, we undertake a detailed review of the European experience to provide new insights based on a comparative, in-depth and comprehensive examination of functioning European CWS. To this end, we have chosen to focus on five up and running European CWS in which the research body has formed into a cohesive system that can be studied, analyzed, and allow us to draw conclusions about the strengths, weaknesses, objectives and unique characteristics of each system. Bearing in mind that there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ CWS, our aim is to assist readers to select their preferred method (or combination of methods), and identify any adjustments necessary to tailor it to the unique characteristics and specific needs of their court system.