The Effectiveness of Mediation as an Alternative to Litigation: A case study of lusaka high court
Date
2013-10-18
Authors
Mapulanga, Irene Malaila
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Mediation is a flexible and highly varied process that includes any situation in which a person gets involved in a conflict between two or more other people to help them resolve it, but has no power to make anyone do anything in particular. Like a facilitator, the mediator is primary a 'process person', helping the parties define the agenda, identify and reframe the issues, communicate more effectively, find areas negotiate fairly, and hopefully, reach an agreement. Therefore, mediation not only reduces the burden on courts and promotes economy, but also provides a more satisfying means to justice for the public.Mediation as an alternative dispute resolution process was formally introduced in Zambia on 28th May 1997 with the passage of statutory instrument number 11 of 1997. That is to say, the High Court (Amendment) rules of 1997. The net effect of the amendment is that except in cases involving constitutional issues, the liberty of an individual or injunction, a matter in suitable cases be referred to mediation by a trial judge. Therefore, mediation is compulsory to the extent that parties may be ordered to proceed to mediation. However, once ordered to proceed to mediation parties are not further obliged to
settle or conclude a matter during a session. In this regard, the study will examine the extent to which mediation has contributed to decongesting cases at the Lusaka High Court.This paper seeks to examine the effectiveness of mediation as an alternative to litigation. It is a case study of the Lusaka High Court. The introductory chapter will discuss the notion of mediation in general. Chapter two will discuss the historical development of mediation in Zambia. Chapter three will discuss the administration of mediation. Chapter four will examine the problems and prospects of mediation and lastly, chapter five will discuss the conclusion of the research and make recommendations.
Description
Keywords
Mediation-Zambia , Arbitration and settlement of disputes