New trends in financing civil litigation in Europe: lessons to be learned

Introduction. Civil litigation serves a multitude of goals, many of which were explicitly touched upon in the previous chapters. Civil litigation in the fi rst instance is a way of resolving confl icts. Depending on the type of confl ict at hand, the plaintiff for example may want the court to issue a declaration regarding the unlawfulness of the defendant’s behaviour, or he may want the defendant to restore the status quo ante, to refrain from further infringements, to perform his contractual duties, to compensate his losses, or to restitute illegitimate benefi ts. In essence, civil litigation is a way to realise rights and entitlements, without having to resort to vigilantism. In addition, civil litigation is a driving force behind legal development. The continuous fl ow of cases forces (or maybe better: enables) courts to fi nd new solutions for existing problems. An ever- changing society is confronted with confl icts which legislators cannot all foresee ex ante. However, the ex post character of civil litigation enables courts to seek solutions to the arisen issues.