Unrepresented litigants in Singapore: A prolegomenon to court typologies
Keywords:
Unrepresented, litigant, typology, No representado, litigante, tipologíaAbstract
Unrepresented parties in litigation struggle with legal doctrine and puzzle over procedure. Judges provide some assistance in court, but they must exercise restraint so as not to raise questions of bias or favouritism. How do judges manage these interactions in the decision-making process? This article examines sample cases from one common law jurisdiction, Singapore, to identify the litigant in person (LIP) typologies in court-LIP interactions. There are likely a number of typologies that guide a court’s assessment and response to an LIP, but this article focuses on the typologies most relevant to judicial decision-making on legal issues, legal knowledge and credibility. Because legal knowledge and credibility typologies help courts evaluate LIPs, they assist courts to make decisions regarding unrepresented parties and allow cases to proceed to judgment. However, the typologies are not able to completely address the deficiencies LIPs bring to the dispute resolution process.Las partes sin representación en un litigio se enfrentan a la doctrina jurídica y a un procedimiento desconcertante. Los jueces ayudan en el juzgado, pero deben ejercitar la moderación para no levantar sospechas de parcialidad o favoritismo. ¿Cómo gestionan los jueces estas interacciones en el proceso de toma de decisión? Este artículo examina casos de muestra de una jurisdicción de derecho consuetudinario, Singapur, para identificar las tipologías de litigantes en persona en sus interacciones. A buen seguro hay algunas tipologías que guían la valoración y la respuesta del tribunal a un litigante en persona, pero este artículo se centra en las tipologías más relevantes en la toma de decisión judicial en temas jurídicos, conocimiento jurídico y credibilidad. Dado que las tipologías de conocimiento jurídico y credibilidad ayudan a los tribunales a evaluar a los litigantes en persona, permiten a los tribunales tomar decisiones sobre partes sin representación, y los casos progresan hacia un juicio. Sin embargo, las tipologías no acaban de responder a las deficiencias que los litigantes en persona traen al proceso de resolución de disputas.
Available from: https://doi.org/10.35295/osls.iisl/0000-0000-0000-1148
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