The introduction of an online forum to settle some civil disputes could raise issues about the role of the Court, a researcher says.
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The shift is one being explored in many jurisdictions, including England and parts of Australia, in an effort to provide an affordable way for people to settle civil disputes.
Lead researcher Dr Bridgette Toy-Cronin said the Ministry of Justice was keeping an eye on developments.
One of the issues that arises from the establishment of an online forum is how easy it might be for a layperson to articulate their dispute, without the aid of a trained lawyer.
Dr Toy-Cronin said that might be relatively straightforward in uncomplicated disputes, but in her experience people struggled to explain their problem in a coherent way.
"Lawyers are trained in what we call legal relevance so they can spot what's relevant to a legal issue in amongst a whole bunch of facts ... and to then say this fact is important because it [relates] to this principle or this statute.
"[But lay] people tend to reason from their own moral judgment about what's right or wrong.
"The law doesn't always accord with a person's moral judgment, so there's often a gap between what the law will do for people and what people feel is right or wrong."
She said while people might view an online forum as a positive option because it could be cheaper than traditional in-court litigation, it could also affect the rule of law, particularly if there is a lack of transparency about decision-making.
"No longer having public forums for dispute resolution ... could raise real constitutional issues, particularly if the [online process] became a kind of backroom transaction rather than [being in] the public sphere."
Dr Toy-Cronin said the research would also consider appropriate technology for such a forum and the computer science department of Waikato University would help with that part of the project.
Even if New Zealand does not move to a full online civil court system, the results would give the Ministry of Justice some guidance on how to better design forms.
She said in the longer term the research might also be a useful addition to international research and establishing online court systems.
The project will run until December next year.
