Small claims courts

Abstract

abstract provided by author

Namibia proposed a Small Claims Courts Bill in 1997, which introduces and establishes SCC in Namibia . Taken from these premises this dissertation will shed light on the Bill hence doing a case study of Namibia's SCC Bill. In this exposition I will look at the importance as well as the justification for small claims courts. It is axiomatic that all citizens have access to the courts of the country; however, this is an expensive exercise due to the high legal cost of litigation

Thus, while it is clear and obvious that all citizens are entitled to access to justice or to the courts per se, the question whether those who cannot afford the legal cost of litigation, can as a matter of absolute right demand to be heard in the civil courts without having to pay the extremely high cost of litigation has not been given attention in Namibia, in view of the developments that have taken place in other jurisdictions with regard to small claims courts as an alternative measure

The manner in which small claims courts is run successfully in other jurisdictions has been viewed as a matter of right more than as a matter of privilege. Moreover, small claims courts seems to be readily available to those indigent persons who cannot afford the cost of litigation in jurisdictions such as South Africa where small claims courts have been successfully implemented and therefore I will argue as to why the introduction of small claims courts in Namibia is highly essential to the indigent person seeking litigation in the courts of law, or in other words as to why it is imperative to establish small claims courts in Namibia

A comparative study will be employed in this regard, because the developments that have taken place in particular in jurisdictions similar to Namibia is too significant in this regard to be disregarded by the law reform agencies in Namibia. The ultimate aim of this dissertation is to try to put the establishment of small claims courts in the agenda of the law reform commission of Namibia as a matter of urgency, and to determine whether or not the approaches adopted or contemplated in other jurisdictions ought to be emulated by Namibia. The aim of this dissertation further, is not to look at small claims courts in general, but to look at the developments that have taken place in other jurisdictions, in an endeavour to advance the cause of the indigent citizen, in other words as to why the indigent citizen should be provided with an alternative cheaper process to litigation in the court system of Namibia

In conclusion, I will attempt to offer options as to how the Namibian law reform commission can review the current bill on small claims courts in order to effect the implementation of a small claims act and alternatively small claims courts

I will argue that despite problems of financial constraints there are better ways in which the law reform commission can affect the successful implementation of a small claims act and thereafter the establishment of small claims courts in Namibia.