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Class Actions and Government

Class Actions and Government

Class Actions and Government

Rachael Mulheron , Queen Mary University of London
May 2020
In stock
Hardback
9781107043978
$151.00
USD
Hardback
USD
eBook

    The relationship between class actions and government makes for a nuanced and fascinating study. Government sets the scene by implementing and designing the regime, by choosing whether to act as a seed-funder for the regime, and by deciding to what extent it should regulate the regime against worldwide classes being litigated on its doorstep. It can then become a key player in the litigation itself. Government may be a representative claimant bringing the action, or a class member, or a potential financial beneficiary. Most commonly of all, it may be a defendant, being sued under the very regime which it enacted into law. With numerous opt-out class action regimes around the common law world in place, and others on the horizon, the book takes a comparative perspective throughout, and concludes with a series of recommendations, drawn from that comparative analysis of government's intricate interplay with class actions.

    • Novel and comparative in scope, this book will benefit a readership in a wide range of jurisdictions, both where an opt-out class action has already been implemented and where it is under consideration
    • Offers practical recommendations in each chapter, resembling the aims of a law reform report
    • Covers the role of government in all of its guises, where class actions implementation and design are concerned, looking at government in all respects, from enabler and designer, to defendant
    • Contains 100 design points of class action statutes, rules, and case law jurisprudence, assessing whether these points should be contained in legislation or left to the courts to develop in case-by-case determination

    Reviews & endorsements

    'For nearly two decades Professor Mulheron has been living, teaching, writing about, providing expert opinions on and helping to draft legislation in respect of class actions on a global scale. Now she has produced this excellent and eminently accessible text offering invaluable and practical insights and advice for anyone who wishes to understand how class actions are meant to work, how they do work in practice, and what considerations legislators and lawmakers should take into account when introducing or amending class action legislation in their jurisdictions. Her analysis of the government’s dual role as legislator and potential class action party makes this work unique.' John P. Brown, Litigation Partner, McCarthy Tétrault LLP, Canada

    'This excellent and stimulating new book from the leading academic commentator on class and group actions will be required reading for all those interested in the field, exploring and analysing from a comparative perspective the symbiotic relationship that exists between class actions and the government.' Duncan Fairgrieve, British Institute of International and Comparative Law, and Université Paris-Dauphine

    'This is a first-class book - clear and comprehensive. As usual, Rachael Mulheron has researched her subject thoroughly and produced an authoritative work which will assist both practitioners and scholars.' Sir Rupert Jackson QC, 4 New Square, London

    'The leading comparative scholar of class action law has done it again. Here, Professor Mulheron reviews the often-overlooked relationship between the class action and government in the UK, United States, Canada, and Australia; the government as system engineer, as operator, and as a party or beneficiary. A work that is comprehensive and erudite, with abundant utility for practitioners and judges as well as for teachers and students.' Craig E. Jones QC, Thompson Rivers University, Canada

    'Mulheron weaves together a stunning kaleidoscope to view class actions through the lens of government. Her imaginative analytical framework and choice of targeted examples deliver fascinating insights into the class action regimes in their cultural and political context, but with a rigour that Mulheron unfailingly delivers. A must for the novice and the specialist.' Peta Spender, Australian National University

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    Product details

    May 2020
    Hardback
    9781107043978
    464 pages
    234 × 156 × 28 mm
    0.77kg
    9 b/w illus. 12 tables
    Available

    Table of Contents

    • 1. Introduction
    • Part I. 'Preparing a Path to the Stadium':
    • 2. Government as class actions enabler
    • 3. Government as class actions designer
    • 4. Government as class actions funder
    • 5. Government as 'gate-keeper': cross-border class actions
    • Part II. 'As a Participant in the Match':
    • 6. Government as representative claimant
    • 7. Government as class member
    • 8. Government as class actions defendant
    • 9. Government as class actions beneficiary
    • 10. Conclusion: levelling the playing field.
      Author
    • Rachael Mulheron

      Rachael Mulheron is Professor of Tort Law and Civil Justice at Queen Mary University of London. She is widely published in the class actions field and is also the author of the textbook, Principles of Tort Law (Cambridge, 2016). Professor Mulheron was academic member of the Civil Justice Council of England and Wales between 2009 and 2018 and, in that capacity, chaired various working parties, provided an empirical study on class actions, and served as principal author of various other reports and publications for the government. She also served as a member of the relevant rules-drafting committee in 2015, which prepared rules of court for the United Kingdom's first opt-out class action.

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